Something Unpredictable
by nerdforlife
Summary: Kurt moves from New York City to Los Angeles to take a job working in the wardrobe department of a television show. Once there, he's introduced to Tina and Mike's ex-roommate, Blaine. The two hit it off, but will their budding romance be derailed when Blaine unexpectedly takes custody of his nephew?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: The title of this story comes from Green Day's Good Riddance:**

It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right.

**This piece will be updated weekly, probably every Sunday afternoon. I've been working on this for a while, so I'm really excited to post chapter one. I hope you enjoy it.**

**This story will start slowly, establishing relationships before any family drama is added.**

Kurt looked around him with a satisfied smile. There might still be boxes to unpack and walls to get some kind of artwork up on, but at least the bones were there. This apartment was small, only one bedroom, but compared to his tiny New York studio? It was spacious, with lots of natural light and a kitchen that was actually big enough to cook in and a little den or breakfast nook area where he could leave a sewing machine set up.

He'd even gotten a week spent in a U-Haul and hotel rooms with his father and Finn out of the deal. They'd helped to unload all of his things yesterday. Taking them to the airport had been rather bittersweet. Kurt was always sad to see his family go, but after a week together in cramped spaces? Let's just say he didn't mind it as much as usual.

Moving all the way across the country had been a tough decision. New York had been the dream all throughout high school. Hell, it had stayed the dream throughout college and the first few years beyond. Even as dreams waffled back and forth between theater and fashion, Kurt had always pictured himself in the dirty streets of New York.

Los Angeles? Rachel had laughed at the very idea. Which would be why she was now a long plane ride away. But sometimes you just had to follow where opportunity led.

A big enough opportunity to justify moving half way across the world (or so it felt like with the summer California sun streaming through the windows) had come up. Bright and early Monday morning, Kurt would start his new job, joining the wardrobe department at _Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow_, one of the new hit dramas of last year's television season.

A knock on the front door of the apartment brought Kurt out of his reverie. He stepped around a box to reach out and open it, and to be promptly ambushed with a hug.

"Tina! It's so good to see you!" And to know it wasn't a random stranger invading his personal space. Kurt stepped back as soon as he could without hurting a friends feelings, using ushering Tina inside as an excuse to break the hug. "Mike didn't come with you?"

"No, he's busy helping a friend out. Guy just bought a townhouse, and the place is rather a fixer. I think I've convinced them not to screw up anything major by trying big repairs themselves." Tina turned to look around the apartment with a grin. "I like it! Not that I'd doubt that you'd have excellent taste. Nice and bright. I'm sure it will be wonderful once everything's unpacked."

Kurt stepped away from the door, leading Tina around boxes towards the couch. "So this is not just a visit to catch up because it's been _far_ too long. It's also a good excuse to stay away from the possibility of whole house destruction?"

"Exactly!" Tina laughed, sinking down onto the couch. "Individually, I would trust both of them not to do something stupid, but together? Somehow they can stop being two smart men and revert to crazy teenage-hood. They said they were going to patch and paint the walls, but in reality, they'll probably patch the walls and then get distracted setting up electronics or playing video games." There was fond amusement in Tina's voice before she changed subject, offering out a small gift bag. "Oh! I brought you a housewarming gift. Or probably more appropriately a welcome to sunny LA gift."

Kurt reached out to take the gift, curiosity overwhelming any need to talk about Mike for the moment. A genuine laugh lit up his face as he pulled out several tubes of all natural sunscreen. "Well, this is definitely something I'll need. It takes work to keep this complexion, you know."

"I'm sure. It'll be great to see you around the set. Are you excited to start?" Tina relaxed into the sofa, tucking her hands around her knees.

"Ah yes, you're the big TV star, huh?" Kurt teased, not losing his smile. He was happy for Tina finding success in a supporting role in the show. "It will be nice to know someone. It's like starting at a new school as a transfer. Well, hopefully not starting at _our_ school. I am excited for the job though. When part of my job involves shopping for clothes for a living, how could I not be?"

"Big star, sure. Steady work is more like it. It's nice not having to wonder how I'm going to pay next month's bills. Mike's studio is doing well, and he's found some choreography work lately as well. All that is wonderful, since the friend Mike is helping was our roommate for a while. He moved out a month ago, so I have peace and quiet again, but the bills are all ours." Tina shook her head. "And you probably don't really want to hear about all that. Why don't I help you unpack?"

"How about the kitchen? I could use help getting the dishes out of boxes and into the cabinets. It's so nice to really have cabinets! I'll put on some music, and we can knock those boxes out?" Kurt stated, standing and rolling back the sleeves of his button down shirt. "Thank you for offering." He added, almost as an afterthought.

* * *

Two hours later, the kitchen was completely set. Dishes were put away, small appliances were appropriately stowed, and all the towels Kurt had used in packing the dishes were in the washing machine. One room down. Actually, they were close to two if the second even counted as a room.

The biggest selling feature of the apartment for Kurt had been this sunny little nook. It was probably really meant to have a kitchen table, but there was a dining room space between the kitchen and the living room. Kurt had sacrificed more than having both a formal and an informal eating space in New York City. In fact, a dining table was on his list of things to purchase.

That made this little space the perfect spot to set up his sewing machine and work space. Kurt folded down the sides of the cutting table and slid it up against the wall, turning to smile to Tina. "I can see myself working here. Or holed up here on too many Saturday's tailoring my clothes."

"Do I get to have you count me in on the tailoring for helping you to set it up?" Tina joked, stretching her arms up above her head. "Since I know you won't get tired of doing that at work."

"Tired of anything clothes related? Never." Kurt moved to lean back against the windowsill, pushing his hair up out of his face. "I suppose this deserves a bit of it. Maybe I should make you a punch card. I think that's plenty of unpacking for now, though. I'm ready to collapse. Takeout?"

"We could do takeout. Or, ooh. Why don't I text Mike and see if he wants to grab a bite with us? We could go somewhere casual, since none of us are really dressed for a fancy dinner. There's this place not too far from here that makes the best fish tacos." Tina suggested.

Kurt glanced down at his clothes for a moment, contemplating going any further than the door dressed in this pair of jeans before he nodded and responded with a dry tone. "Alright. I'll sacrifice high fashion for tonight only. Give me a couple minutes to pull myself together though while you call?"

* * *

"I've got him!" Mike punched buttons on the controller, quite into the video game until the sound of his phone ringing startled him out of it. "Ack! Pause the game."

He didn't even wait to make sure Blaine had hit pause before he grabbed for the phone. Mike did however wait for the moment it took his friend to mute the sound before he answered. They'd gone through this drill a few times before.

"Hi, Sweetheart!" It never hurt to start off with buttering the wife up, right?

"The house still standing? You and Blaine didn't manage to do any permanent damage to it before moving on to video games, did you?" Really, it was a good thing Blaine had muted the sound, Mike thought as he listened to Tina on the phone.

"Video games? Us?" He tried for an innocent tone before laughing, mostly at the overly contrived innocent look on Blaine's face, his friend listening in on half the conversation. They'd been roommates long enough for him to probably guess at the rest. "You know us too well. But we did get real work done first! We patched walls and then painted hallways and the bathrooms. See! Lots of work before we resorted to video games."

"I'm sure you did." Mike could just hear his wife's amusement over the phone. "You haven't ordered pizza yet have you? Because I'm all sure all that hard work gave you an appetite."

"Not yet. We wanted to get to the next level first." Mike admitted sharing a sheepish smile with his best friend. "Did you have something else in mind?"

"How about Miguel's? Have Blaine find some socks and clean up, first though. Kurt and I got a room and a half unpacked. That deserves some tacos, I think."

"Miguel's sound good, Blaine?" Mike covered the phone to ask over, waiting for a nod before he replied. "Miguel's it is. Meet you there in half an hour? Are you bringing Kurt?"

"I am. I think I've even convinced him not to change clothes. Which might be a miracle." Tina joked before she closed the call with, "Miguel's in a half hour. See you there, love."

Mike hit the button to end the call on his phone screen and sank back down into the couch, grabbing his controller. "We have half an hour until we need to be there. Time to finish the level?" He didn't pass on the mention from Tina about socks or cleaning up. Blaine was a grown adult. He'd be fine.

"If we're fast." Blaine hit the pause button, starting the game back up as he asked. "Who's Kurt?"

"A friend from high school. He was in Glee club with Tina and I." Mike paused for a moment to execute a more difficult move in the video game before he resumed the conversation. "He literally just moved here from New York. Tina was over helping him unpack, I guess."

"So we get to be his welcoming committee?" Blaine joked, crossing one bare foot under him.

"I suppose. It'll be good to see him. Tina talks to him occasionally, but I haven't actually seen him in years." Mike let out a whoop in unison with Blaine as they finished the level. "Perfect timing. We'll get it for sure if we're late because we're playing video games."

"No, I'll just get an eye roll. You're the one that wouldn't be getting any tonight. But I suppose I can help out by being on time. Let me go check my hair and grab some shoes." Blaine teased as he stood, moving off to get ready to go.

* * *

Blaine followed Mike in through the doors of the neighborhood restaurant. He glanced around, looking first for Tina then grinned over toward his friend. "We made it here before them. She'll have no room to comment."

Mike led the way toward their favorite booth in the back with a smile in return. "Good. That will make for a more harmonious home for me."

Blaine slid into the opposite side of the table, leaning his head back against the coolness of the lime green tile behind him. "Anything for you, Mike."

Mike smirked back, letting things fall into a comfortable silence as Blaine looked over the familiar menu. It lasted for the few minutes it took for Tina to arrive. Blaine smiled up to greet her and found his gaze caught on her friend. Mike hadn't mentioned the fact that he was gorgeous. Blaine tried to give him a discreet look over, or really, tried not to be caught looking. It was hard to tell standing next to Tina just how tall the man was, but he was thin with upswept brown hair and light eyes. The man was just striking, with a a strong jawline. His button down and tight jeans made Blaine feel under dressed in his own college t-shirt. Maybe he should have changed out of his painting clothes. "Tina!" Blaine offered in greeting. Or distraction.

"Mike, Blaine. You beat us here!" Tina said with a grin back over to her former roommate. "You didn't get so wrapped up in video games you forgot you were going to eat." She teased, even as she slid into the booth beside Mike, leaning over to give him a quick kiss.

"Of course not. We would never do that." Blaine joked right back before he leaned over to offer his hand to the newcomer. "You must be Kurt? I'm Blaine. And I'm just suddenly realizing how taking our usual booth is slightly awkward today."

That cracked a smile out of the other man. He took Blaine's hand to shake it firmly before he replied. "Kurt, yes. You've heard about me?"

Blaine slid back farther into the booth, leaving plenty of room for Kurt to sit down and perch on the other edge. "Just that you're a friend of Mike and Tina's from high school. And something about just moving here? No creepy levels of information, I promise."

Kurt laughed softly at that last part, starting to loosen up a bit as he gave the other man an apprising look. "Just moved here, yes. As in yesterday. Tina said that you used to be their roommate?"

Blaine nodded with a casual smile on his face. "It helped us all pay the bills for awhile. I'm finally leaving them alone and out into my own place though." He paused for a moment and glanced across the table, a flush heating his cheeks. "I shouldn't stop all of you from reconnecting though."

"It's no problem." Mike spoke up.

"Kurt is allowed to meet people other than the two of us. We're not that possessive." Tina added with a grin as she looked between the two of them.

Mike gave his wife a quick shake of the head before he jumped into the conversation. "It's good to see you again, Kurt. I wish we'd been in town when you came through to interview. It's been a long time since the last New Directions reunion, hasn't it?"

"Years." Kurt agreed before he sank back a bit more into the booth, still leaving a distance between himself and Blaine, but not so perched nervously on the edge of the seat. "I wish you had been, too, but it was also good in a way. I'd heard about the opening through Tina, so it might be a good thing that I was there on my own for the actual interview. They couldn't think I was relying on someone else."

Blaine looked over curiously at that last bit. "You're working on Tina's little show?" That part was said with a teasing tone toward the only woman in the group. "That's why you moved here?"

Kurt nodded his head. "I'd been doing some work for off-off and off Broadway shows in costuming, but this is a more steady gig. I'll be working in the wardrobe department." He reached out for his menu finally, needing to look over it much more than those who ate here regularly. "Are fish tacos actually good?"

"Costuming, huh?" Blaine asked giving Kurt another look over. "Have you ever worked with kids' productions?"

"Run before he drags you in!" Tina gave Blaine a teasing look even as she talked to Kurt. "And yes, fish tacos are actually very good. Even if we'd probably never convince anyone in Ohio to try them."

"I'll take your expertise on the matter. Sounds healthier at least than putting greasy ground beef into them." Kurt turned to give Blaine a wary look through the space he'd left between them. "Drag me into what?"

"I may have a reputation for doing that." Blaine admitted, rubbing a hand sheepishly over the back of his neck. "My summer job is at a performing arts nonprofit. Right now we're running performing arts day the group does operates on a sliding scale with extra scholarships for foster kids so that no one gets left out. And I may always be looking for people to come in and volunteer, as a teacher or a mentor."

Kurt's eyes widened at that. "That sounds like quite the enterprise. A worthy one. I suppose I could help, but I don't know that I'd be a good mentor."

"I'm sure you'd be just fine at that." Tina inserted, grinning between the two men as she leaned in close to her husband. "Blaine's pulled in a lot of the people who work on _Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow_ at some point or another already."

"And you all were good enough toward the end of last summer to let some of our more outstanding older kids shadow several of you for a day." Blaine said, smiling warmly. "It was much appreciated even if the show wasn't even on the air yet."

"Watch out though, or he'll drag you as far down that rabbit hole as he has Mike." Tina teased.

Kurt gave Mike a curious look as the quieter man just shrugged. "I volunteer a couple hours a week to teach the higher dance levels. Give some scholarships to my studio if it's warranted so the really talented kids can keep learning during the school year."

"It takes a village." Blaine joked, resting the menu he'd been holding, but not looking at, in front of him. "I'm just one cog in the machine." As the waitress made her way to their table he leaned just into Kurt's personal space to order. "Can I get the salmon tacos with black beans on the side? And a Corona?" At Tina's smirk he grinned back. "Painting deserves a beer at the end of the day."

Kurt leaned just slightly over out of habit then smirked a smile at the man. "Oh, that explains it. Did you know you have a spot of paint on your forehead?"

Blaine rubbed at it self-consciously as Tina and Mike both snickered in the background. Finally, Mike added, "And I know you'd never get drunk on a Saturday night, good little church boy that you are."

"That's me exactly!" Blaine joked brightly before quieting down to let the rest of them order.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurt's first week of work was going alright. He'd gotten lost wandering around Paramount Studios twice so far today, but that was to be expected, right? And it was down from the five times he'd gotten lost on Monday.

_Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow_ was a time travel focused show. Any kind of production with a scifi bent wasn't where Kurt had expected to work, but he had to admit that it had it's perks. Beyond just the selection and fitting of modern clothes, the wardrobe department also got to create historical pieces and interpret fashion into the future.

Kurt was just finishing hemming the bottom of a formerly too long skirt when Tina walked into the wardrobe department on Wednesday.

"Kurt! Do you have time to grab something to eat?" She asked, sliding up to lean against the edge of his sewing table. "I've smiled and waved at you a thousand times this week, but I haven't had time to really talk."

"Imagine that. It seems that working in completely different departments on the show might just give us different schedules." Kurt joked. "But just give me a minute? I'm almost finished with this garment then I can take a few minutes off for girl talk. And lunch."

"I suppose I can wait." Tina teased, before she paused and then laughed over. "Hey. Are you trying to insinuate that I'm some kind of diva an you're just the help?"

"No…" Kurt let his voice trail off. 'Unless there's some side of you that I haven't seen since high school? Because there were a few moments where diva was poking out way back in Lima."

"Maybe there were." Tina admitted cheerfully. "I think that was the just the influence of all the rest of you wearing off on me."

"Are you including me in that?" Kurt let a false iciness color his tone before he had to let it slide in a flurry of laughter. "Can we just say it was Rachel's influence? Because I'm one hundred percent sure that she'll admit to being a diva." Kurt snipped off the trailing threads and stood, moving to hang the skirt neatly in the proper place. "And I believe you mentioned something about lunch?"

Tina led the way out with a cheerful grin. "Yes. Because you've never had a diva moment in your whole, entire life." She motioned to Kurt to turn a corner, moving toward Craft Services as she continued. "But I suppose we can blame it on Rachel's influence if you'd like. Just don't tell her I said so."

"Next phone call I make." Kurt joked glancing around. "It's nice to have such a convenient place for lunch."

"The joys of being on a sound lot. Grab what you want and then we'll find a table?" Tina suggested, taking Kurt's nod for a yes.

Once they'd collected their lunches, a sandwich and fruit for Tina and a chicken salad for Kurt, they found a smaller table in the shade. "So, how has life been lately?" Tina asked.

"Crazy?" Kurt supplied. "I don't know how it would be anything less than that though with a cross country move and a new job, in a slightly different field. So crazy, but a good crazy."

"Marjorie seems to be happy with your work so far, though." Tina grinned as she saw her friend start to object. "I know that it's only been two and a half days, but believe me, when she's not happy? You'll know it."

"Good to know." Kurt filed that note away. "I like the work we've been doing. And it's not that different from working in the costume department for a theater. The only difference seems to be that you all go through a lot more clothes. On stage, they're wearing the same thing day after day."

"It's the fashion model in all of us." Tina took a moment to add a layer of mustard to her sandwich before she added, "At least there are so many people in suits here that we don't go through as many clothes as some of the other shows. I don't know why characters on TV can't wear the same clothes more frequently. I know that my wardrobe in real life doesn't extend to wearing the same thing twice and then getting rid of it."

"True!" Kurt responded. "Especially if I want to get better quality pieces. And most people would consider me to have a fairly extensive wardrobe."

"That hasn't changed since high school, then." Tina noted dryly before asking, "What about your romantic life? No one in it right now?"

Kurt snorted. "Not so much, no. Moving cross country by myself wouldn't have been such an option if it were. But no. The last guy I went on more than one date with was Paul, about eight months ago. We dated for a few months, but I broke it off." At Tina's curious look, Kurt continued. "It turned out that Paul had no interest in ever really moving into a deeper relationship. Not until he was at least thirty. I don't want to rush it, but when I find the right man, I want to settle down with just him."

"You want the husband and kids and white picket fence?"

"The husband at least. I'm not so sure on the kids part yet. And maybe more a cute Craftsman than white picket fence, but you get the drift." Kurt let out a soft sigh before he stabbed his fork down into a dark green piece of lettuce.

"I do. I feel so lucky to have met Mike so young, and then to have reconnected with him in college. I love having him to come home to at the end of every day. And not _just_ for the sex." Tina grinned even brighter at the laugh that last part pulled out of Kurt. "Though, on that note, it's kind of nice to have our house back to ourselves again, even if Blaine was a good roommate."

"He seems like a nice enough man." Kurt agreed absently, missing the way that Tina's eyes brightened at that.

"He is. Single, too." Tina added rather unsubtly.

"I'm sure there's a nice girl out there somewhere for him." Kurt gave Tina a confused look as she started laughing at that notion. "What?"

"Looking past the video games and his aversion to wearing socks, Blaine is actually gay. So I'm sure there's a nice _boy_ out there somewhere for him." Tina leaned forward across the table. "He's cute though, right?"

"He's gay?" Kurt echoed before he just laughed, catching on to what Tina was doing. "Oh man. This is your attempt at matchmaking, isn't it?"

"Maybe…" Tina shrugged, a smile still on her face. "I just want to see both of you happy. He's been hurt in the past, but he really is a wonderful man. Plus, he's Mike's best friend. You know that Mike wouldn't have a best friend without a good heart."

"But he's religious? Mike said something the other night about Blaine not drinking too much before church?" Kurt asked tentatively. "I've never dated anyone at all religious. It's always been a bit of a deal breaker for me. It just sounds like an oxymoron. Gay Christian."

"Doesn't mean it is." Tina pointed out. "He is religious, but his church doesn't remind me of Quinn or Mercedes' at all. It's very open. Liberal. Relaxed. I've been there a time or two with him. Religion just isn't my thing, but Blaine's kind suits him well. Talk to him about it sometime if you're interested. I wouldn't let it be the thing that makes you rule him out until you know more."

"You just say that because it might make them take away your matchmaker credentials." Kurt said before just shrugging. "I'll think about it."

"Good. I'm not saying that you should call him up tonight and ask him out on a date, even if I'd be thrilled if you did. Just get to know him and see if you're interested? Keep an open mind about it?" Tina glanced down at her watch and stood, grabbing the remaining part of her sandwich. "I've got to get back to hair and makeup for a touch up, but how about this. Mike, Blaine, and I were planning to go to Karaoke on Friday. We go every couple of weeks, anyway. Why don't you come with us this time? At the very least, maybe you can make a new friend?"

"Karaoke? I could do that." Kurt agreed, standing up. "I should get back as well. Wouldn't do to leave a bad impression on my third day at the job."

* * *

Kurt tugged at his waistcoat as he stepped out of his car. He smoothed his hands over the tight fit of the dark red skinny jeans he was wearing letting out a long breath as he walked up to the door, stepping inside. That need to collect himself and make sure his appearance was just right had nothing to do with finding out that Tina's cute ex-roommate was actually gay and single. Of course not.

"Kurt!" He looked up at the sound of his name, unable to stop a grin from crossing his face when he saw Blaine waving at him. "We're over here!" Kurt made his way over to the table that Blaine was sharing with Mike and Tina, sliding into the empty seat with a smile of greeting.

Mike gave a simple nod of greeting as Tina spoke up. "Kurt! You made it. Did you find the place alright?"

Kurt nodded over, feeling his face heating a bit. "I did! Nothing like finding my away around the sound lot. Your directions helped."

Blaine reached over to slap a hand on his shoulder amicably, making Kurt's insides jump. "Don't feel so bad about that. I've yet to go visit Tina at work without ending up hopelessly lost."

"I'm not sure that I like the insinuation that I'm normal." Kurt forced himself to joke back, not even sure if he was really relieved or not when Blaine took his hand away, grabbing the beer in front of him for a sip. "You all started without me?"

"You were lucky enough to miss the last singer. I swear that I've never met anyone that tone deaf in my life. I needed the drink to survive it." Blaine shook his head with an overly dramatic sigh.

"Worse than Sugar?" Kurt asked toward Mike and Tina, reaching out for the menu tucked into the napkin holder.

"She would make Sugar sound like a Grammy winner." Tina affirmed, Mike wincing beside her in agreement.

"Sugar?" Blaine asked curiously. "Someone from high school? Who the hell names their kid Sugar?"

"Oh, she lived up to the name, believe me." Kurt admitted, tucking his feet into the rungs of the tall chair he was perched on. "I swear that every article of clothing she owned was pink. She was completely over the top, but most of the time it was in an amusing way."

"And she did get a _little bit_ better at singing. Enough that we started to allow her to take background vocals instead of forcing her to just lip sync." Tina shook her head with an amused smile. "I wonder what she's up to now?"

"She's on my Facebook. She's a stay at home mom. You should see the get ups she dresses her little girl in." Conversation about their former high school classmates flowed out from there. Blaine was a good enough sport at least to listen to stories about people he'd never met through his first beer.

As Blaine finally drained the last off of it he stood. "I'm going to go put my name on the list to sing. I think it's time for some better quality performances." The grin on his face dampened some of the arrogance that his words might have held.

Kurt couldn't help but watch him go. The man really had a fine ass. Especially dressed the way he was tonight. Instead of a t-shirt and jeans, he was wearing a navy pants that clung in all the right places, a red polo shirt, and a pair of navy and white striped suspenders. He might not be tall, but Kurt couldn't deny that he was fit.

He looked up to find Tina's eyes on him, a smirk on her face. "What?" Kurt asked over, turning his gaze down to the neglected menu.

"Nothing." Tina responded but then she leaned closer to her husband to mock whisper, "See? I told you he'd find Blaine attractive."

"He's right here." Kurt said with a flush brightening his cheeks."On that note, I think I'm ready for a drink. I'm already one behind all of you."

"Another round of drinks. And maybe some appetizers. I know that Blaine will want nachos. Or at least he'll need something in his stomach besides beer." Tina took the menu from Kurt, flipping to the right page to look down at the selection of bar food offered. "He's a total lightweight.'

Mike spoke up next, "Looks like there wasn't a line. And they're giving Blaine the use of the piano. This should be good."

"That's one of the big reasons we come to this specific bar. Blaine insisted that anywhere he goes has a real piano at least available. Well, it's a keyboard, but close enough." Tina shrugged. "That and it's close enough to Mike and I's house to walk if we all ever get really toasted."

Kurt looked up to the stage, watching Blaine settle in, adjusting the microphone. He was even more surprised to hear what Blaine was playing, than the fact that he'd settled in at the keys in the first place. Stripped down versions of classic Katy Perry weren't really what he'd assume Blaine would be into on first look. And of all the songs to choose for this, _Firework_ didn't seem like it would have been Kurt's first choice. He had to admit that Blaine was talented though, vocally and on the keys.

"Ah. A Blaine Anderson classic." Tina noted, leaning closer so that she could talk softly to Kurt, trying not to ruin the performance. "He claims that between his obsession with Katy Perry songs and his love of video games that he's a quote well rounded gay unquote."

* * *

Evenings at Karaoke were apparently a multi-hour affair for Tina, Mike, and Blaine. Two hours later, Blaine was proving to be quite the happy drunk. Suddenly, Kurt could understand Tina's comment at the beginning of the evening about Blaine needing something in his stomach besides beer.

Tina had finally talked Mike into a duet, leaving Kurt alone at the table with Blaine. Kurt had long since switched over to Diet Coke, since he didn't plan to risk his life on the drive home. Blaine was apparently planning to ride with the sober Mike, leaving him with no such reservations. He wasn't exactly sloppy, but he was currently leaning across the small table towards Kurt, extolling the virtues of pianos. "Keyboards are good, but how could anyone ever think that a keyboard could compare to an actual piano? I mean, a piano has all that space for reverberation. Reverberation. I like that word. It's fun to say. Reverberation."

Kurt slid a plate of spinach dip and flat bread closer to Blaine. "Pianos are very nice." He agreed. "You know what else is nice? This food. Yum?"

Blaine took the bait, at least long enough to shove one triangle of flatbread into the dip, waving it at Kurt as he changed the subject. "You know who hasn't sung tonight? You! You were in Glee club, right? You've got to get up and sing something!"

"You never know. Maybe I sing as badly as Sugar." Kurt remarked, reaching out to shove the hand holding the food toward Blaine's mouth before he forgot about it's existence.

"I doubt that. I bet you sing really well." Blaine took the hint stopping to chew on some food before he continued. "Your talking voice is really pretty. I bet you sing that pretty. Please?"

Blaine's eyelashes were unfairly long, especially when combined with that kind of openly pleading look. Kurt sighed softly. "It's been awhile since I've sung in public. But yes, I know how. I went to a performing art college." One more look into those pleading eyes and Kurt had to agree. "I'll look at their song list when Tina and Mike get back."

"If they don't have what you want, I can play that keyboard to back you up. Even if I wish it was a piano." Blaine offered finishing off his triangle of food, but not reaching for more.

"Even after… how many beers have you had now?" Kurt questioned, trying to keep a smirk off his face.

"Three?" Blaine's voice sounded more like a question than any kind of certain answer. He just shrugged at Kurt's laugh. "I'm not driving this week. My turn for a good night." He paused for a look at his empty glass. "I could still play though. It takes a lot more alcohol than this to take away my piano skills."

"I don't think I want to see that amount." Kurt teased, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, look. Mike and Tina are up." Maybe that would distract Blaine from requests to hear him sing.

* * *

It was only about another half an hour before they settled their tabs, heading together toward the door. It was only once they were outside underneath the moonlight that Blaine seemed to realize what he'd missed. He rounded on Kurt shaking his head. "You didn't go sing."

"I'm sure there will be other chances." Kurt responded, tucking his hands down into the back pockets of his skinny jeans.

"But you promised." Blaine made silly puppy eyes at him once again before he glanced over toward Tina and Mike. "I know! You can drive me home and sing to me on the way." Blaine looped an arm over Kurt's shoulders as he spoke, even more touchy feely than normal after the alcohol he'd consumed.

Mike raised his eyebrows over to Kurt, a clear question about whether Kurt wanted him to take his drunk friend off Kurt's hands.

Kurt shook his head, sighing. "Are you sober enough to give me directions to get you home?"

"Yes! I know the road like the back of my hand." Kurt refrained from pointing out the short amount of time that Blaine had lived at his new address. He certainly hoped that they wouldn't end up at Mike and Tina's instead. "I'll stop bothering you if you _sing_."

Kurt rolled his eyes over to Mike and Tina. "I can handle this. I'll talk to you soon. Maybe really soon if he gets us lost."

Tina laughed, reaching out to take Mike's hand into hers. "Call us if you need directions. Don't let him get you into a crappy neighborhood first. I'm glad you came out tonight, Kurt. I'll see you bright and early Monday."

"I'll try not to stick you with _too_ many pins when you do." Kurt joked before he wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist, letting himself relax enough for a little bit of physical contact with a man he still didn't know that well. His good friends, and past boyfriends, could hang all over him, and Kurt actually liked it. A near stranger, though? That made him want to claim a huge personal bubble. It was starting to feel like Blaine was somewhere in between those two extremes.

Kurt led Blaine over toward his car, getting him settled into the passenger side before he went around to take his own seat. As soon as he turned the car on, Blaine reached out to shut off the radio. "Good song, but I'd rather hear you."

Kurt sighed, not even looking over to see if Blaine was batting those eyelashes again. "Give me directions first."

"Left from here." Blaine said before rattling off the next few steps. "Serenade?"

"I don't know why you want this so much." Kurt muttered as he turned onto the main road, moving up to the light to make a U-Turn.

Once they were truly on the way, Kurt took a deep breath and started in, choosing Charlie Chaplin's _Smile._ After the first verse, Blaine started to hum along, bringing a smile to his lips. The humming began to fade out as he reached the end. Kurt turned in his seat to see Blaine's reaction only to have to stifle any loud laughter.

Blaine was fast asleep in the passenger seat, his head resting against the window of the car. At least he hadn't started to drool. Yet.

7


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt straightened up from looking over one of an array of dining tables as his phone vibrated in his back pocket. He opened the text message from an unfamiliar number, confusion turning to grinning as he saw who had sent the note.

**This is Blaine. I hope this doesn't seem too creepy, but I got your number from Tina. I just wanted to apologize for being a drunken fool last night.**

Kurt settled into one of the dining chairs he'd like the best. Couldn't hurt to test it out as he replied, right?

_**Not too terribly creepy, no. But there's no need to apologize. You're hardly the first drunken boy I've been around. I went to college, after all.**_

Blaine must have had his phone next to him, because it didn't take long before Kurt's was vibrating in his hands.

**Are you insinuating that I'm like a frat boy?**

Kurt choked back a snicker, glancing around to see if any store employees were giving him dirty looks for sitting in their chair texting. Nope. So far he was safe.

_**I went to a performing arts college. No frat boys. Is insinuating you're like a college theater kid better?**_

**Much. How about I buy you a cup of coffee, to make up for you having to drive me home, anyway? You free today?**

Kurt couldn't resist the little thrill that went up his spine at that. Even if it was just as friends, it was still a cute boy wanting to spend time with him. Being new in town, he could always use a new friend. And this chair? It was horribly uncomfortable. That ruled the only dining set he really liked in this store out.

_**I can always make time for coffee. When and where?**_

* * *

Kurt followed Blaine's directions and managed to make it to the coffee shop only five minutes late. Despite getting directions, he'd somehow still managed to make three wrong turns. He glanced around, hoping that he hadn't annoyed the man he was coming to meet too much with his tardiness. He spotted Blaine sitting at a table off to one side, a book in hand and a cup of coffee already in front of him. He nodded when Kurt waved in greeting, so Kurt moved first to order a mocha before heading over.

"What are you reading?" Kurt asked as he slipped down into the seat across from Blaine.

"Well, hello to you, too!" Blaine joked before he looked down at the paperback in his hand. "_The Lightning Thief_. It's a classic kid's book. Well, maybe not quite old enough to be a classic, but it will be someday."

Kurt raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "And why are you reading a children's book, Blaine?"

"Because I'm a child at heart?" Blaine responded lightly, shutting the book to rest it on top of a notebook. "Actually, I think that I'm going to read it with my class next Fall."

"Your class? I thought you worked for some kind of arts group." Kurt took a sip of his coffee, relaxing back into his seat.

Blaine shook his head. "No. I mean, yes, I do, but only full time in the summers. I'm actually a teacher."

"A teacher." Kurt echoed glancing toward the paperback. "Elementary school?"

"Fourth grade. I teach at a really diverse public school here in L.A." Blaine reached out for his own coffee cup, running his fingers along the rim as he spoke. "I like it for the most part."

Kurt shook his head slumping down in his seat. "Good for you then. You could not pay me enough to leave me alone in a room with twenty children."

"You don't like kids?" Blaine asked, eying Kurt as if he might have two heads. "They're so hilarious. I never got how people could not like them. And really, it's usually more like thirty or thirty five than twenty. A classroom of twenty students would be a dream come true. You'd have to pinch me." He let out a dramatically dreamy sigh, getting a laugh from Kurt.

"Thirty-five? That's crazy. Insane." Kurt grinned over, despite his words. "I do like kids. Some of them at least. I just prefer not to be outnumbered by them. What do you do if they mutiny? You could never take them all on?"

"That's why you have to get them to like you." Blaine noted, grinning back. "So that the chance of mutiny is smaller. Or like a pirate captain, you can rule with fear. I prefer the first. It makes me feel warmer and fuzzier inside."

"And that's important to you? Being warm and fuzzy?" Kurt teased. "Are you a puppy?"

"I may have had that comparison made before." Blaine admitted. "But it's not just that. Why should you make people feel bad if you can make everyone feel good?"

"Because some of them deserve it?" Kurt continued the slew of question responses. "This is where Mike was coming from, right? When he called you a good churchboy?"

Blaine sank back himself, fiddling with the collar of his polo shirt, worn bowtie-less that day, Kurt noted. "Well, maybe? I suppose my religious views affect my outlook on life. What's the point of religion if it doesn't?"

"Well, leaders throughout the ages would probably answer with comments about oppression or keeping people in line." Kurt quipped dryly.

Blaine gave that a wry smile of acknowledgment. "True, even though I wish it wasn't. I guess I should say my brand of religion though. Liberal Christianity isn't actually an oxymoron. It's all about love, when it comes down to it. God's love for us. Our reflection of that love out onto the world."

Blaine paused for just a moment to regroup. "I know that some people think I'm crazy for my beliefs, but when it comes down to it, I figure that even if I'm wrong about God, I'll have lived a better life this way. That's my judge of a church I'd be proud to be part of. If I follow their teaching, will I be a good person? Will I leave the world around me better than I found it? I'm not in this to condemn people. I'm in this to change myself and to have a wonderful church family that will always stand by me. Together, we can all stand up to injustice with a more powerful voice."

Kurt sat quietly for a moment after that, looking over to Blaine before he nodded. "I guess I can accept that. I don't think you need a church to do good, though, or to stand up for what you believe." Blaine nodded agreement with that before Kurt continued. "I try not to have any trouble with any churches or religious people that don't have a problem with me."

"That sounds like a good policy. We got awfully deep for a Saturday afternoon cup of coffee. Isn't that one of the topics I should be trying to avoid, right alongside politics?" He joked.

"Right. Lighter topics. Um. How do you know Tina and Mike?' Kurt asked curiously, taking the afternoon together as a chance to get to know Blaine better.

"I met Mike during college. We worked together in the summers at a performing arts summer camp in upstate Wisconsin. We became really close friends really fast. He was going to college in Chicago, and I was in school out here, but thank goodness for X-Box live." Blaine grinned teasingly at the wince that brought to Kurt's face. "Not a big X-Box fan?"

"Not the biggest." Kurt admitted. "I do actually know how to play though. My stepbrother is still into all of that. Actually, he's a teacher as well. High School P.E."

"Back in Ohio?"

He nodded. "He lives only a few miles from our parents, along with his fiance. He was always a better fit for Ohio than I was." At Blaine's curious expression, Kurt just snickered. "Let's just say that I stuck out in high school. Getting to New York was a godsend."

"I can imagine that it was. I had enough of a taste of trouble of my own. I ended up at a private school from it. It was a wonderful taste of freedom under a zero tolerance anti-bullying policy. I still couldn't wait to get out of Ohio though. L.A. is just so much more accepting. I can't imagine what parents would say in Ohio if they found out that their child's teacher was openly gay. I know there are teachers who deal with that, but I'd rather not. LA Unified doesn't care one bit as long as my students are learning who I might want to go home to at night."

"I'd never even considered that." Kurt shook his head. "Sometimes I almost manage to forget what it was like. At least until I go back to visit and get looks in the grocery store that I know have nothing to do with wondering where I got that pair of amazing boots."

That got a laugh and a grin back out of Blaine. "You never know." He teased before slumping back in his own seat. "So, maybe a happier subject? How did you end up working in wardrobe?"

"Well, I've always had a thing for fashion and clothes. When I came out to my father, he claimed that he'd known since I was a preschooler and all I'd wanted for my birthday one year was a pair of sensible heels. All the issues of Vogue I spent my high school years reading helped as well."

"Who didn't spend their high school years reading Vogue?" Blaine broke in to ask, tone only half joking.

"People with no taste." Kurt quipped back, relaxing even more in Blaine's presence. "As you know, I was also in glee club and theater in high school. I applied to NYADA in New York when I was a senior and didn't get in. Staying in Lima just wasn't working out, so I decided to move to New York anyway and live with my friend Rachel. I got an internship at Vogue working for the head of their website." At the look on Blaine's face, Kurt just grinned. "I know! Dream internship for a nineteen year old fresh out of high school. I decided to apply to NYADA one last time. If it didn't work out I had Vogue and the chance to reassess. But it did. I got in. It was great, but between performance classes and working part time at a fashion magazine, I found myself drawn as much to costuming as I was to performing on stage."

"I auditioned for onstage roles initially, but I wasn't getting anywhere. I did pick up several jobs in theater costume departments, though. By the end of the first job, at an off-Broadway theater, I knew it was what I wanted to do. I never saw myself getting into television, but I'd just finished the run of a show with nothing else lined up when I heard from Tina about this job. I came out to interview, and it seemed perfect. They were looking for someone who could style characters and tailor clothes, but more importantly, they needed someone who could construct period pieces when needed. I've done that for several plays. So, here I am."

Blaine listened quietly through all of that, nodding along. "Sometimes you have to follow where circumstances seem to lead?"

"Exactly. I'm twenty-seven and single. If there's ever going to be a time in my life to just move across the country and experience a new city, this is it. I love New York, but who says that I can't love it here, too?"

"No one. And if you find that you hate it here, it's not like moving trucks only go one direction."

"Exactly!" Kurt leaned forward, propping his elbow on the table. "If nothing else, I don't think I'll miss that kind of winter."

"I doubt you will either. And if you do? There's always a weekend trip to up to Big Bear to play in the snow." Blaine raised his cup of coffee in toast to that idea. "Last winter, I went up with Tina and Mike for a weekend. Mike and I got into the biggest snowball fight. It took me back to my Dalton days. Without the blazer."

"I'm sure you polite prep school boys never demeaned yourself so far as to throw snowballs at each other. Dalton, huh? If it hadn't been just a bit too long a drive and far too expensive for my mechanic father, I might have ended up applying there at one point in high school. My father and I actually talked about it, but it just wasn't in the cards." Kurt fiddled with the cardboard sleeve on his cup. "It's amazing how small the world is sometimes, isn't it?"

"It is. I was lucky that my parents could afford to send me there. It was all public schools up to that point, since we lived in what was supposed to be a wonderful district, but well, it didn't take much of my freshman year to realize that wasn't going to work out well for high school." Blaine tipped back his coffee to drain the last bit, glancing up to the counter. "I'm going to go get a fresh cup. Can I get you one as well? Make up for you having to drive my drunken self home last night?"

At Kurt's nod, Blaine tilted the other man's cup, reading his order off the side.

* * *

The second cup and some shared pastries were long since finished, when Kurt glanced at his watch, eyes wide. They'd been talking for more than three hours, but it hardly felt like it had been half that. "How did it get to be almost four o'clock?"

Blaine pulled his cell phone out of the pocket of his pants and blinked at the clock there. "Time flies when your having fun? The cliche is true?"

Kurt stretched his hands up over his head, suddenly aware of having been slouching in his chair for way too long. "It's been a long time since I've talked to someone for three hours straight, without even coming close to running out of things to discuss. I'm glad you asked me to come join you."

"I'm glad I did, too." Blaine said, leaning forward to rest his head on one propped up hand, watching Kurt. "Three hours, and yet, I'm not ready to say goodbye yet. What else did you have planned for today?"

A flush crept up Kurt's cheeks. He had to admit to himself, even if he might not to Tina, that he really was attracted to Blaine, as a person as well as just the physical side. There was something about the dark curly hair and hazel eyes that drew him in, but even more so, there was something about being able to open up and talk about everything and anything that made him want to not let go. Hearing that Blaine wasn't ready to have their time together end, either? That was wonderful. "The only big plan I had for the day was furniture shopping. My one bedroom apartment here is about twice the size of the tiny place I had in New York. I was out shopping for a dining room table when you called, since I now have the space to own more than a two seater. It might be a long process, trying to find things I like that are within my budget."

"Oh man. I know that feeling." Blaine sympathized. "When I moved out of Mike and Tina's, I pretty much only owned bedroom furniture. It's been an adventure trying to fix up and furnish my new place." Blaine fiddled with the lid of his empty coffee cup. "I'll admit that for pieces I bought new, I depended a little too heavily on Ikea. Have you checked them out?"

Kurt shook his head with a sheepish smile. "I know there are some in the New York area, but does it make me a horrible person to admit that I've never been inside an Ikea?"

"Yes. A horrible, horrible person." Blaine teased, a grin on his face as he leaned over the table to mock whisper. "How about we pop your Ikea cherry this afternoon? You can even leave your car here, and I'll drive."

"That sounds rather dirty." Kurt quipped back before he stood, turning to start tossing out their trash. "I think that sounds like a good plan. I promise not to fall asleep in the car even, despite the fact that you're not relying on me for directions."

"Hey. I bought you apology coffee and cream cheese danish for that." Blaine gave a falsely apologetic look before he just broke back out in a huge grin. "Plus, you got to have a whole 'nother conversation with Tina out of the deal. You could just have shoved me awake for directions, you know."

"I know." Kurt followed Blaine out toward a small silver sedan. "But it was more fun to have something to taunt you with later. You were quite forgiven even before the coffee and cream cheese pastry but those certainly were an added perk."

* * *

The trip into Ikea expanded from just looking at dining room tables (finding some definite possibilities if Kurt couldn't flea market something better) into Blaine drooling over kitchen cabinets. "I'm planning to sand and paint the horribly ugly ones in my kitchen for now, but someday…" Even after the pastries from the coffee shop were followed up by meatballs at Ikea, neither man found himself ready for the night to end.

"Well, my original plan for the day was to go to a movie. Want to come along?" Blaine asked, heart twittering in his chest.

After a moment, Kurt nodded. "What were you planning to see?"

"The new Superman movie." Blaine admitted, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. "But that plan could change."

"I can't say I'm so into Superhero movies." Kurt admitted before a suggestion hit him. "I haven't made it to see the film adaptation of _Spring Awakening_ yet, have you?"

"I did. But I would be more than willing to see it a second time with you."

* * *

The movie led into cuddling by the end. Kurt had started to see that Blaine really didn't have the strong sense of personal space that he did. But over the course of a Saturday together, he'd felt his need to pull apart melting away. By the time the credits were rolling, he was leaning into the arm that Blaine had wrapped over the back of his seat, content to take in Blaine's warmth.

The trip back to the coffee shop so Kurt could get his car was mostly spent listening to Blaine sing along to anything at all that came on the radio. By the third song, Kurt gave into the pleading eye requests that he was getting at every red light. How could anyone resist Blaine Anderson's puppy dog eyes?

Kurt was reluctant to get out of the car when they pulled into the now empty spot next to Kurt's car. "I can't believe we just spent almost an entire day together, and yet I'm still not in a rush to get back home."

Blaine unfastened his seat belt, turning his body to face Kurt's. "I'm glad you feel the same way I do, though. I feel like I've known you so much longer than a week." He paused, summoning his courage to ask, "Would you go out with me next weekend? Like a real date?"

Kurt nodded without hesitation. "I will. I'll eagerly look forward to our second date. Call me this week and we'll set up details."

"Our _second_ date?"

"Well, isn't this our first? You fed me and we saw a movie. Certainly sounds like a date, personally." Kurt added with a coy smile on his face.

"It does." Blaine hesitated again before asking, "If this is our first date, does that mean I get to kiss you goodnight?"

"I suppose a gentleman would be allowed to do that." Kurt said, unable to keep a grin from spreading across his face any longer. He leaned across the gear shaft, making the first move by pressing his lips up against Blaine's.

Blaine moved his hand up to close over Kurt's shoulder, letting the kiss stay light and flirty. He smiled into the kiss even as he pulled back. "Or you could kiss me. I suppose either would be perfectly acceptable in our modern relationship."

"You weren't planning to keep me barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen were you?" Kurt asked, reveling in the left over tingling in his lips. "Because if you were, I think we need to have a long talk."

Blaine's laugh seemed to almost startle him. "No. Not what I would be planning at all." He straightened back up in his seat. "Thank you for a marathon of a first date, Kurt. I'll call you to set up number two."

Kurt leaned in to press a second kiss to the corner of Blaine's mouth before he finally opened the door. "I'll look forward to it. Now that you stalkered my number out of Tina." He glanced out into the dusk. "I suppose this is time for me to bite the bullet and get out, or we'll be sitting here all night." He did take the chance to lean back into the car through the open door to grin over, though. "Thank you for not falling asleep on me again, Blaine." He teased as a parting note, letting the shutting of the car door ensure that he got the last word.

* * *

On Tuesday, Blaine poked his head into the room where Mike was finishing up a lesson with two of the most talented dancers in their summer camps. He stepped inside, leaning against the mirror lined wall in the back of the room as Mike put them through their paces.

Blaine didn't step forward until he heard Mike send the two off to stretch and change out of sweaty clothes. "They're really good, aren't they?" He asked as he moved up beside where his best friend was stretching out his own muscles.

Mike nodded simply, moving back into a standing position and going to grab a water bottle out of his bag. "They are. The things they could do with regular lessons, well, they'd both be superb."

"Uh oh. Is Tina going to be giving me a hard time again about coaxing you into giving scholarships to your studio?" Blaine joked, tucking his arms around the bar to lean against it, relaxing.

"Probably. But no coaxing would be needed in this case. I know Audrey's family will accept in a heartbeat. In fact, I've already talked to them. They started her in dance lessons when she was younger, but had to quit for financial reasons. Carlos, I'm not so sure we'll get in though. He's in foster care right now. Getting him to classes might be a problem. Add to that the possible teasing he'd get at school as a Hispanic boy dancing?" Mike shook his head. "I'll try though."

"And that's all we can do sometimes, no matter what we'd want." Blaine stated with a sigh. It was a lesson he'd long ago learned working in the school he did. "Some kids will never have a supportive home, so we give them the all the support we can for as long as we can. Then we have to hope that some else steps into that role."

Mike nodded, letting out a sigh of his own before he took a long drink from his water bottle. "So, I see that Tina's directions to Kurt got you home alright Friday night?"

A flush crept up Blaine's cheeks as he nodded, tucking his hands down into the pockets of his plaid shorts. "They did. I bought Kurt coffee on Saturday as a way to say sorry. I'm pretty sure he's forgiven me." At the raised eyebrow look Mike gave him, Blaine continued, "It kind of turned into a full day thing. We talked forever over coffee, then went furniture shopping, and out to a movie. He's kind of amazing."

"Oh God. I'm never going to hear the end of this from Tina." Mike muttered.

"What?"

Mike had to choke back a laugh at the confused look on Blaine's face, but he still admitted. "She's wanted to set the two of you up since she heard that Kurt was moving to L.A."

"Oh Lord. Matchmaker Tina. I'm sure that she'll be thrilled to hear that I asked him out again for next weekend."

"Beyond thrilled, I'm sure." Mike reached over to give Blaine a pat on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you, and I hope it works out. You deserve a good relationship. And if it doesn't, that's going to make having Kurt over really awkward."

* * *

Tina popped by the wardrobe apartment again at lunchtime on Wednesday. Maybe they should consider it a tradition, Kurt thought as he waved, finding just the right jacket from one of the racks in the back room, bringing it out to tag it with the name of the character that would need it later that afternoon. "Time for lunch and a chat again?"

"Definitely." Tina hooked an arm around one of the many metal racks to eye Kurt. "I hear that you have all kinds of things that you seemed to have forgotten to tell me about this weekend."

Kurt rehung the jacket along with the shirt and pants it would go with, turning to lead Tina out. "I'd pretend that I have no idea what you're talking about, but I doubt that it would go well."

"Probably not, considering who Mike's best friend is." Tina fell into step beside him, no longer needing to lead the way. A week and a half of work had taught Kurt at least the basics about how to get around. She did wait until they'd both grabbed wraps and taken seat though before demanding, "Spill."

"I'm sure you're heard all the highlights, then. Blaine texted me after you gave him my number. We got together for coffee. One thing led to another, and we realized that we'd been talking for hours. I think he set my mind at ease about the whole religion thing, by the way." Kurt picked at the edge of his wrap as he talked.

"I knew he would. It's not like he's a fundamentalist." Tina tilted her head. "So really nice time at coffee?"

"Really nice. And then afterward when we went shopping and ate possibly questionable food at Ikea. And then went to see _Spring Awakening_ at the movie theater."

Tina laughed. "So a cup of coffee turned into all of that?"

"It did." Kurt shrugged, a grin on his face. "Turns out his personality matches his adorable appearance. Are you going to be an insufferable matchmaker if I tell you that we're going out again this weekend? Or that I kissed him?"

Tina's grin widened even further. "No, I'm just going to be a very happy friend, for both of you. I hope it's the first of very many wonderful dates."

"Second." Kurt cut in.

"What?"

"Second date. We decided that even though it wasn't planned that way, that last Saturday definitely counted as our first date."

"I hope your second date is wonderful then." Tina corrected herself with an amused shake of her head. "Treat him well. He deserves someone who will do that." She only paused a moment before raising a hand. "And yes, I'll be telling him the exact same thing."

"I have absolutely no intention of treating him any other way. Believe me." Kurt insisted before finally turning his attention down to his meal.

9


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I apologize in advance for playing a bit fast and loose with the DCFS office and happenings in the story. I played it to suit the story I wanted to tell instead of absolute reality. **

The vibrations of Blaine's cell phone against his bedside table pulled him out of quite a pleasant dream. Kurt had been there, he remembered. Something with a picnic and songs. And making out. Damn phone.

Blaine reached out groggily to grab the phone, blinking at the caller ID before he answered it. "This better be good Cooper. I have a day off today, and you're interrupting it way too early."

"You're off today? Good. I need you. I really, really need your help. When have I ever asked you for anything?" Even through the phone line, Cooper sounded stressed, odd for him.

Blaine bit back a sigh. He'd refrain from pointing out that Cooper asked for stuff all the time. It was just usually petty little stuff. "What do you need Cooper?" Blaine swung his legs over the side of his bed, rubbing his eyes. Seemed like sleeping in really late had just been crossed off his list of things to do on his day off.

"I'm at the Department of Family Services. On Wilshire street. Can you come meet me here? I don't know how to explain this over the phone." Blaine could practically picture Cooper running his hands through his hair as he talked, making it all crazy.

"You're at DCFS? I know where that is. Shit, Coop. What did you get yourself caught up in? Never mind. Let me pull on some clothes." Blaine glanced at the clock, 9:15. "I'll be there about ten. Just be ready to fill me in."

* * *

A quick shower, a bit of gel through his hair, and a muffin and coffee on the road later, Blaine was pulling into the parking lot. Blaine had driven by the place a million times, but he'd never been inside. From the moment he answered Cooper's call, a feeling of dread had been settling into Blaine's stomach.

Blaine tugged on the bottom of his maroon polo shirt, straightening the fabric over his dark jeans before he pushed the door open.

The receptionist smiled politely over at him from his desk. "May I help you?" Maybe it was because it was a Saturday morning, but place wasn't as jammed with people as Blaine had imagined it.

Blaine flashed a smile back, ever ready to be politely social, walking up to the counter. "I'm actually looking for my brother. He called and asked me to meet him here. Cooper Anderson?"

"Let me see." The receptionist looked over to the computer screen next to her for a moment before turning her smile back up to Blaine. "You are meeting with Cassandra. They're down the hall, third door on the right. Let me walk you there."

"Thank you so much!" Blaine flashed one more charming smile over before he was led down the hallway, turning into the appropriate doorway only to be yanked into a big hug. "Oof. Cooper. Get off."

"Blaine! I'm so glad to see you." Everything about Cooper's eyes said, 'Save me.' Blaine just gave him a 'look' before he turned to nod to the social worker behind the desk.

"You must be Blaine. Mr. Anderso-, Cooper said he'd called his brother." The social worker was friendly but professional as Blaine walked over to shake her hand. It would be just like Cooper to want to avoid being called Mr. Anderson. "What has he told you so far?"

"I am. It's nice to meet you." Blaine kept that professional smile on his face. It had lots of practice being there. "And he's told me nothing, other than that he needed me down here. What's going on?"

Cassandra looked to Cooper for permission to share the story, then waved the Andersons over toward two empty chairs. "We got a call from the police early this morning. They went to investigate a domestic disturbance call and found a woman who was unconscious, probably from an overdose. They called an ambulance. As they were investigating further, they found there was a baby in the house, so they called for us. The baby was healthy, so we brought him here to look for placement options after a quick check in at the hospital. When his birth certificate was located, we found that he is one Julian Anderson, three months old."

At the end of that whole story, Blaine turned to stare over to Cooper, catching on pretty quickly. "Yours? Did you know about this?" It only took one look at the expression on his brother's face for Blaine to know that he did indeed know about this. "You knew. You knew you had a kid and didn't tell me? Does Dad know?"

"I didn't tell anyone." Cooper admitted, glancing down to his hands. "His mom and I dated for a few weeks. She told me was pregnant, but she didn't want anything from me but money. I gave it to her when I could. She was never high around me. I didn't even know she had anything to do with drugs. Believe me on that, Blaine, please."

One look into his brother's face, and Blaine nodded. Cooper might think he's some great actor, but in reality? Blaine could read him like an open book. "I believe you. Do we know if the baby was exposed?" Blaine ran his hand up through his curls, greasing it slightly from the light amount of gel he'd used. This was not what he'd expected for his day off. He was going to repaint those cabinet doors and go on a date with Kurt. That was the plan for the day. This was not.

"As far as we can tell from the medical records, he wasn't. There's no record of prenatal care, so it's possible that he was at some point in utero, but he wasn't born addicted or we would have been pulled into this much earlier." Cassandra stated, leaning back in her chair to watch the two brothers.

"Good. That's good for him. Julian, you said?" Blaine sank lower in his seat, pushing out a breath of air. "What happens to him now?"

"That depends on your family. Our first priority in new intake situations is to place a child with a family member if there is a suitable one available. The mother was in the system herself, and there are no suitable possibilities on that side of the family. What about yours? Cooper?" Cassandra looked over his brother, giving him a once over, and probably not for the first time that day.

Blaine could not imagine Cooper taking care of a baby. He was far too self-centered for that. At 34, he still did not have a regular, full time job. He worked odd jobs to pay the bills between commercial gigs and bit parts on television shows. It paid for Cooper's small apartment, but Blaine couldn't imagine that being right for a baby, especially with the number of parties Cooper ended up at.

"Our family. Huh. Dad would take him, I'm sure, but I'm not sure that would be the best choice. My parents travel extensively for work." Blaine added towards Cassandra, not even mentioning Cooper as a possibility. "Your mom?"

"She's as bad as Dad. She didn't even take me after they split, and I was six. You think she'd take an infant?" Cooper pointed out before he gave Blaine his very best 'please, please' look. "What about you?"

"Me?" Blaine squeaked out. He hadn't even considered that.

"Yeah. You're good with kids, Blainers. I mean, you like them and all that. You job means you have to, right? You want to be a dad someday. I know you told me that." Cooper wheedled, practically begging his little brother. "You've got that college degree, a job, and a place of your own."

"Someday, yes. But I didn't really think that would be today." Blaine blew out a long breath, thinking for a moment before he looked up to Cassandra. Might as well bite the bullet. How could he be the one responsible for this kid ending up possibly being tossed around the system? "What would I have to do?"

"Are you sure you want to do this? We want to give Julian as few disruptions in his life as possible. Our other option would be foster care, but at Julian's age, it should be fairly easy to find a good family to take him." Cassandra had turned her gaze over to Blaine now, as if she was judging him.

"I'm sure. I may not have been planning on it yet, but Cooper's right. I have always wanted to have kids. Things are fairly stable in my life right now. I've got a good, steady job. I can do this." The more the idea sunk in, the more right it felt to Blaine. "So what do I have to do to be approved?"

"The process is simpler because you're Julian's uncle. We can actually release him to you today after we do a criminal background check. And then I'll come by at some point next week to do a home check and make sure everything is going all right. I do need to ask a few questions first, though."

Cassandra stood up to take papers out of a filing cabinet near her desk before glancing back to Blaine. "Does anyone else live with you? Anyone over 18 in the house will need a check."

"Oh, no. Not anymore. I did live with my friend Mike and his wife Tina for a couple of years, but I moved out a couple months ago. Bought my own place. It's just a little townhouse, but it has two bedrooms. Guess the second will be a nursery not a music room, huh?" Blaine rubbed his hands down on his pants. "Can I see him? I mean, this is all great in the abstract, but I'd really like to see him. Hold him."

"We've got him back in one of our family rooms. How about you fill out the background check paperwork, then I'll take you to see him while this processes." Cassandra attached the papers to a clipboard, passing it over with a pen. "What's your support system like? Anyone who can help you get settled? Do you have any experience with babies?"

Blaine started to scribble down a life's worth of addresses and information as he considered that. "Support system? I have friends in town. Colleagues. Church. I should call someone from church. Miriam maybe. She and her partner have a baby girl, older than Julian, though. I bet she can help me get things figured out. Most of my direct experience is with elementary kids. I've cooed at and cuddled a lot of babies, but that feels like not nearly enough knowledge right now." Crap. Was he really ready to do this? Well, Blaine knew he certainly wasn't _ready_, but could he do it? Blaine made a mental note to call Kurt as soon as he could. That'd be a fun bombshell to drop.

"And what do you do for a living, Blaine?" The social worked asked. Keeping the questions coming as the forms were worked on.

"I teach fourth grade for LA Unified. Right now, I've been busy with my summer job at an arts nonprofit. Act Out. We provide music, theater, and dance camps and classes on a sliding scale to make them accessible to as many kids as possible." Blaine explained as he scrawled his signature on the bottom of the form.

"Oh! I've heard of that. You all work with several of the kids on my caseload. I keep hoping to get to a recital or a performance." The social worker stated. "You all do good work."

"We try." Blaine replied with a distracted smile. This was a conversation he'd be loving to have at any normal time. Right now, his mind was other places. "Getting kids in foster care and group homes into our programs has been a priority." Blaine passed the paperwork back and stood, looking over to Cooper. "I'm doing this, but you're the one calling Dad." He smirked at the frightened look on Cooper's face as he followed Cassandra out of the office, to a more comfortable room with worn couches and a crib set up in the corner.

"This is our family room. We use it most for supervised visitation, but it's also helpful if we have kids waiting here for placement." The social worker smiled at a college aged woman cradling an infant on one of the couches. "Sally, this is Blaine and Cooper Anderson. Blaine, this is Sally, one of our current crop of interns."

Blaine barely noticed that Cooper had been left out of the second half of that greeting, because his eyes had been drawn to the baby held in Sally's arms. He stepped forward, raising his arms hopefully. "May I?"

The intern looked over for Cassandra's nod of permission and then passed the baby carefully over to Blaine. "He's so tiny." Blaine stated quietly as the baby blinked thickly lashed blue eyes up at him, sticking his whole little hand up to his mouth to chew on it. "And he looks like a mini version of you, Coop. Man, no doubt you're his dad, huh?" Blaine held the baby close as he reached up with his other hand to finger one loose brown curl.

"He is small for his age. We can help you out with recommendations for a pediatrician, but it would be a good idea to get him checked out in more depth than they did at the hospital this morning. He's been eating well today, but there's no way to know if that has always been the case." Cassandra pointed out gently, watching Blaine hold the baby close with a satisfied smile. It might not be an easy one, but she was confident that this would end up being a good match. "Let me just get these papers processed while you bond with Julian. You're a teacher. I have little doubt that your background check will pass, since I'm sure you've been fingerprinted and background check more times than you can remember."

Blaine nodded absently. The need for a pediatrician appointment registered, but then his attention was all on the baby, warm and snuggly in his arms. Any doubt that he was going to follow through with this faded away. How could he say no to this helpless child?

* * *

Early afternoon found Blaine sitting in the parking lot of Target, scarfing down the last of a fast food burrito, with a newly installed car seat in the back of his car. The wrapper got shoved down into the bag, and Blaine was out of the car around back trying to get the infant seat out of its base.

"Blaine! I'm glad you called me. Always nice to be able to help a friend." Blaine got the carrier out of the base just in time to see a short woman with long blond hair caught up in a ponytail coming toward coming towards him, her daughter held on her hip. "Ooh. Is this your nephew? He's adorable! I didn't realize you had a nephew."

"Miriam! Neither did I. Suffice it to say, it's a long story." Blaine admitted with a sheepish smile as he led the way towards the store. "I'm glad you and Ella could make it today. I'll admit that I'm clueless in this. I know he needs diapers and formula, but that's about where my knowledge ends. I certainly did not wake up today thinking I'd end up taking custody of a three-month old."

"You can set that right there on the cart." Miriam noted, pulling out a second cart to get her eight month old settled into the front seat of it. "I needed a few things from the store today anyway. It's a good excuse to get Ella out of the house and all that. See, I can come up with all sorts of reasons to be here, but really, you're family, Blaine. We take care of each other, right? Now, the baby section is back here. What do you have so far?"

Blaine moved alongside Miriam, reaching up to grasp Julian's hand and play with it when the baby started to fuss. "Right. Especially those of us whose relationship with our own family is more, well, complicated." Blaine paused for a moment before he laughed almost bitterly. "Nothing. I have nothing at all. Well, I have a loaner car seat I have to give back by the end of the week and a few sample packs of diapers and formula. And the clothes Julian has on."

"And you have all of us. I'll call Pastor Dan later. I'm sure there are members of the church with little boys who have outgrown clothes and baby items. We'll see what we can round up for you. For now we'll get the basics. Diapers, formula, bottles, some onesies and sleepers. Oh, maybe a pack and play. He'll need somewhere to sleep tonight. That'll work until you get a crib." Miriam went down the list on her fingers, ticking off the basics. "I'll see what we have of Ella's that's more gender neutral. I doubt you really want Julian in a bright pink dress."

That last got a laugh of out of Blaine. "No. No. I may be gay, but I'm certainly not doing that to this little guy. If he grows older and wants to wear it? Fine. But nothing pink and frilly now. Right Julian?" The baby just stared back up at his uncle, bringing the finger he was holding to his mouth to chew on it. "That sounds like a good starter list. And maybe a pacifier to suck on instead of my finger? And thank you. For everything."

"No worries. Kelly and I had nine months to prepare for Ella, and we still didn't really feel ready. Well, I was quite ready to have her off my bladder. I can't imagine doing it all this fast. I'll help however I can." Miriam reached out to smooth down her daughter's hair before she grinned over. "So, I guess this means you're skipping out on choir on Thursday, huh?"

"Oh God. Yes. Probably indefinitely." Blaine glanced down at the little boy in front of him. "I have nothing figured out. Nothing. I keep trying not to freak out, but I mean, I have to figure out insurance so I can take him in to get checked out at the doctor. Then I have to find a doctor. My first phone call when I get home has to be to my summer job. I'm going to need to take at least a few weeks off to get everything figured out. Maybe just put in a few volunteer hours the rest of this summer. I'm not sure that the efforts to not freak out are going to hold together."

Miriam reached out to rest a hand on Blaine's shoulder. "You deserve a chance to freak out, but can we wait until we're out of Target first?" She joked, waiting to get a grin out of Blaine before she continued on. "And that's why you have friends and your church family. I know we can't do all of that for you, but you know we'll help. I stay at home with Ella. If you need someone to watch Julian while you put in a few day camp hours, I can help out with the little guy. I'm sure there's other people who'd help if you need them. Peg, for one. You know that ever since she retired, she's been going stir crazy and missing her grandchildren. We'll work this out. Plus, at least it happened in July. You've got plenty of time to get day care issues settled before the school year starts again."

Blaine let out a deep breath. "One step at a time. The first step is to actually have at least one change of clothes for Julian, right?"

"Right. And maybe a bottle to feed him with." Miriam said with a teasing smile. "And a pacifier so that someday you can have your finger back."

* * *

Julian started to holler mere seconds before someone started to knock at the door. Blaine cursed under his breath, glancing in the two directions torn between where to go first. After a moment's hesitation, Blaine started toward the door, pulling it open quickly when he spotted who was waiting through the peephole.

"Kurt! I-" Blaine trailed off for a moment before his eyes went wide as he took in the impeccably dressed man waiting on his porch. "Our date!"

He could just feel Kurt's gaze boring into the worn jeans and old college t-shirt he'd pulled on after the second time Julian had spit up on him that afternoon. "Which I take it you're not ready for?" Kurt just said, tone caught somewhere between curious and icy.

"No. I can ex-" The wailing reached a new pitch, and Blaine glanced back toward the stairs. "Just come in? And give me a second?"

He didn't even wait to see if Kurt stepped in behind him or not, just heading upstairs to the play pen set up at the end of his bed to scoop Julian up, trying to rub soothingly at the baby's back. "You're okay, little guy." He whispered, only to hear the sound of a throat clearing behind him over the baby, who had at least moved from screeching to simple tears.

Blaine spun around, Julian held tight against his chest as he saw that Kurt had followed him up. "So- this thing you can explain involves why you suddenly have an infant you've never mentioned?"

"Yeah. I suppose. But let me get him changed and get a bottle? I can explain much better without talking over a crying baby." Blaine sighed. "I know this isn't what you signed up for tonight, but I'll meet you in the living room?"

Ten minutes later, Blaine was finally settled on the couch cradling a baby and a bottle, having managed a successful diaper change. "So, this wasn't exactly how I expected today to go." Blaine admitted.

"Well, that makes two of us." Kurt leaned across the arm of the chair he'd settled in to study the baby. The few minutes of waiting seemed to have warmed the ice in his tone, leaving him with just the curiosity. "Last minute babysitting emergency?"

Blaine gulped and shook his head. "Only if you take that in a very large scale, long term kind of way." He admitted.

Kurt cocked his head to the side at that, raising his eyebrows. "Then where did you get the baby from? He's not yours is he?" The look on Kurt's face very clearly added, 'I thought you were gay' to that.

"DCFS. That's where I got the baby from. And he's only sort of mine. He's my nephew. Apparently." Blaine looked down to the baby sucking hungrily at the bottle. "Maybe I should just tell you the story?"

"Your nephew?" Kurt repeated before he nodded. "Tell away."

"I have an older brother, Cooper. He lives out here, too, acting in commercials and bit parts for TV shows. People have long been joking about how he might be older, but I'm more mature. Well, this morning, I got a call from him. He was at the Department of Child and Family Services." Blaine shook his head with a soft sigh. "Turns out this little guy's mother is in the hospital from a drug overdose. His birth certificate lists Cooper as the father, so they called him. Imagining Cooper taking care of a cat is hard enough, let alone a real live person. I may have given Cooper a few withering looks when he admitted that he knew about Julian and never told me."

Blaine paused for a moment shifting the baby to a more comfortable position in his arms, getting a smack of displeasure from Julian when that took the bottle from his mouth. "Anyway, it was clear Cooper couldn't take care of him. The mom doesn't have any family. My parents-" Blaine paused to laugh sadly as he settled the bottle back into place. "Let's just say they'd take him, but he'd be lucky to see anyone but a nanny more than once a week." Blaine looked up from the baby and over to Kurt. "So the options were either that, foster care, or I took him."

"Wow." Kurt couldn't keep a rather stunned look off his face. "That's a big, sudden life change, huh?"

Blaine nodded fervently. "Oh yeah. I feel like I'm so far in over my head." His gaze turned back down to the baby as Julian's sucking slowed as he neared the end of the bottle, and a full stomach. "I don't even know for sure how long I'll have him for yet. A part of me, though…." Blaine trailed off for a minute, taking a deep breath before he admitted. "I'll admit that it went through my head that maybe this is fate or something. Maybe this is the one real chance I'll ever have to have a child to raise myself. How could I turn that down?"

Kurt just nodded staring over at Blaine with the baby for a moment. "I guess- I could see that." He hesitated himself before asking, "Are children something you've always wanted?"

"This is great conversation for what was supposed to be our second date, isn't it?" Blaine tried joking, as he pulled the empty bottle away from the infant. He turned to set it down on the end table and grab the dish towel he'd left there. He'd learned quickly to have something over his shoulder after Julian finished eating, shifting the baby up vertically to pat at his back, mimicking what he'd seen people doing for years. "But yes. I have always wanted to be a dad someday. I just always thought I'd be in my thirties and married first. I mean, I wouldn't work with kids everyday if I didn't like them."

"I usually wait for the third date for it, myself." Kurt drawled with a dry smile over. "I guess sometimes life has other ideas for us."

"I guess it does. What's the saying? We plan, and God laughs?"

"That'd be your area of expertise, religious man." Kurt replied, trying to keep it light.

That earned a laugh from Blaine, beyond the stress of the day. "You make me sound like I'm a preacher or something, instead of just another voice in the choir."

"Still puts you much farther down that spectrum than me." Kurt pointed out, shifting position to slouch back in his chair. "Are we still counting this as a second date?"

"Oh Lord. It doesn't really feel like one." Blaine said pausing for a moment before he shook his head. "I don't- I mean, I really like you Kurt, but-"

"But a new relationship isn't at the top of your mind right now is it?" Kurt asked, filling in what he though Blaine was asking there with a sigh. "This isn't going to work right now, is it?"

Blaine's face fell at that, letting out his own deep breath before he shook his head. "As much as it hurts to admit it, I don't see how it can be. New relationships take a lot of work or at least time to build. I'm note even sure when I'm going to have time to breathe."

"Then we put it on hold." Kurt said, trying to fix the pained look on Blaine's face. "We can build our friendship right now, and then when things settle down to simply crazy instead of batshit insane, we can try this again."

Blaine let out another low sigh, standing to try bouncing the baby as Julian started to fuss. "As much as I wish I'd be able to be on a real second date right now, I think that sounds like the smart plan."

"I'm settling in to a new job and a new city. You're settling in to an instant family. I think we could both use the time. But I don't want to lose the friendship we've been building." Kurt insisted, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "You know, I've had the 'do you want kids someday' talk with several past boyfriends, but never really come to a firm answer."

Blaine's eyes went wide as he looked over at that, trying to hide the hit of panic that sent to his gut. They'd only gone on one date. He didn't have any right for that to effect him this much. "Is this going to be a deal breaker here then? If Julian ends up being here with me for good?"

Something in Blaine's chest loosened back up as Kurt shook his head. "No. Not for me. Just something that might take getting used to. I always thought that I might be more likely to adopt an older kid someday. Babies kind of scare me." He admitted with a self-deprecating smile watching the baby whimper and fuss. "They're messy and rather easy to break. I will however call a claim on helping you decorate a nursery, because every kid deserves a cute one. So long as you'll have me."

"I'll take all the help I can get." Blaine said with a thankful tone showing through. "My second bedroom is just boxes and musical equipment right now. Hell, don't even look in my kitchen. How I'm supposed to convince a social worker next week to let me keep Julian when I don't even have doors on the cabinets, I don't know." The sigh was back, right before Julian traded his whiny unhappiness for throwing up all over the towel and down onto the back of Blaine's shirt. "Shit."

Kurt just settled for wrinkling his nose. "Ick. See what I mean about the mess?" Kurt stood as well, not approaching. "Why don't you show me that extra bedroom, and I'll take a look while you both get changed."

"Changed and starting laundry. I have like one clean crotch snap t-shirt thing for him left. How does he go through this many clothes in one day?" Blaine practically whined as he pulled the baby, who now seemed quite a bit happier, back away from his shoulder, looking at the extent of mess on Julian's sleeper.

"It's the mystery of small children everywhere." Kurt replied dryly as he followed Blaine off upstairs. "After you get changed, why don't you show me what needs done with the cabinets? Maybe we can make a plan."


	5. Chapter 5

Tina put the glass of water she'd been gulping from down on the counter and moved to the door as quickly as she could when she heard the knocking. The fact that she was answering Blaine's door and not her own didn't slow her down one bit.

The actress was as surprised to see the woman standing there as the woman looked to be to see someone other than Blaine answering his door. "I'm not sure I have the address right?" The woman started off and then paused - "Oh. Maybe I do. I think we've met? You were Blaine's roommate?"

"Tina. Yes. Come in. Quietly." Tina ushered her inside and toward the cabinet-door less kitchen, pausing to explain why with just a wave of her hand. The reason was quite clear. Blaine was stretched out on the nearby recliner just as out for the count as the baby asleep on his chest. "You're one of Blaine's friends from church, right?"

The woman nodded over to Tina, turning to glance first back toward the living room and then around the mess in the kitchen. All the dishes were clean and there were no crumbs, but there were sheets of sandpaper, paint brushes, and tools covering the countertop. "Yes, that's me. I'm Miriam. I take it last night didn't go well?" She guessed.

"Not from what I've heard, no." Tina affirmed. "Blaine looked a bit like death warmed over when we got here, so when he fell asleep, we let him be. Well, after a couple of cell phone photos. He'll appreciate them someday, right?" Even if Blaine might be embarrassed by it right now.

The sliding glass door partially covered by a four seat wooden table slid open, and Kurt poked his head inside. "Who was at the front door?" He asked curiously, rubbing one dusty hand over his jeans. Like Tina, he was dressed down, in one of his oldest pairs of pants and a plain blue t-shirt. Clothes to go with the paint brushes.

Miriam gave the newcomer a quick look over before she offered a hand out. "Miriam. I go to church with Blaine."

Kurt stepped in fully, giving the woman a smile that was just a bit forced. "Kurt. It's nice to meet you." He returned the look. Miriam wasn't dressed overly nicely if she'd just come from church, which the timing of late Sunday morning would suggest, but her khaki capris and cotton top were certainly nicer than anything the cabinet painting crew had on.

"I just have some things in my car for Blaine, but this might not be the best time to unload?" She offered before taking a look around. "This is quite a project."

Kurt shrugged. "We can always sneak it in quietly if we need to. Blaine seems to be sleeping fairly deeply for being in the living room." He glanced around the renovation mess of the kitchen. "Blaine already had all the cabinet doors off and was in the process of sanding and painting them. He was worried that when the social worker comes out to do a home visit, she'd be upset about the missing doors. So, we made it our Sunday project to finish them for him." He glanced toward Tina to include her in that then out to the cement patio where Mike was still at work, priming door fronts. "I will admit that I see why he was working on this. Those doors were /ugly/. Horrid laminate that was probably white at some point in its life. With some bright red paint and new hardware, he'll have a vibrant look to last until he can afford to replace them."

Miriam nodded with a soft 'ah'. Maybe it was the fact that she was the only parent in the group, but Miriam was the first one back into the living room as Julian woke and immediately began to fuss. She scooped him up expertly into her arms and cooed into his ear. "Shh… You're okay, but you're going to wake up your uncle."

"Too late." Blaine muttered sleepily, reaching up to rub at his eyes. The absence of a warm baby sleeping on his chest waking him if the noise didn't. He sat the recliner up then blinked over owlishly. "Wait. Miriam? When did you get here?"

Miriam fished a pacifier out of the play pen that had been brought downstairs for the day, using it to get the baby quiet, for the moment at least. "About five minutes ago. I come bearing hand me down gifts from several church families. I take it that it was a rough night?"

Blaine nodded fervently. "I swear that he didn't sleep more in stretches of more than thirties minutes from dusk until dawn. I finally relocated us down here for a movie marathon, since I was apparently not ever going to be doing more than cat napping."

"Superheroes?" Kurt asked over from where he was leaning against the archway that led into the kitchen, giving Blaine a teasing grin.

"Harry Potter." Blaine admitted with a shrug for the snicker of laughter from Kurt.

"I should have guessed. Alright, I'm going to drag Tina back to work. We'll leave you in your friend's hands. She seems more capable than us." Kurt gave a little wave of fingers before heading back out the sliding glass door.

"Someone special?" Miriam asked curiously as she rubbed a hand soothingly along Julian's back.

"Don't I wish. Actually, I thought he might be, but we decided yesterday to put things on hold for awhile." Blaine said, running a hand up through his hair, pushing curls left loose off his forehead. "Last night was supposed to be our official second date."

"Ouch." Miriam wrinkled her nose. "Good sign that he's still over here today though, right?"

"I suppose. And he's insisting on helping me turn my room of boxes into a nursery." There was a pause as Blaine glanced the direction Kurt had left, a blush creeping up his cheeks as he checked to make sure Kurt was now on the other side of a closed door. "He's so good looking, with a personality to match. We talked for hours about nothing last weekend, and he just makes me laugh. So of course, I have absolutely no time to pursue anything." Blaine eyed the way the baby was sucking at his pacifier. "Let me go get a bottle together. Considering that he's thrown up at least half of everything he's eaten, I bet the little guy's hungry."

"When you get back, I'll go bring in what I've got in my car while you feed him." Miriam paused, shifting the baby in her arms to get a better look at him. "You're getting him in to the doctor this week, right? Because throwing up that much of what he eats isn't normal. And he's so little to begin with."

"That's in the plans. Which is probably good because I feel like I have no idea what's normal and what's not." Blaine slipped into the kitchen for a minute, returning as he shook a bottle to make sure the formula was mixed.

Miriam gave up her hold over Julian, and Blaine settled back down in the recliner to feed the baby. It took two trips for Miriam to bring in everything she'd hauled over, ignoring Blaine's offer to help.

"Alright. The Walters' and the Key's sent things that their boys have grown out of. I added a few of Ella's things that aren't pink with butterflies and hearts." Blaine laughed at that bit but nodded, so Miriam continued. "That should get you through until he's needing six month clothes."

"Thank you. I'll have to email or call them to pass that along, too. I've already had to wash everything we bought yesterday once, and I was about to have to do laundry again. I had no idea that someone so small could get so many clothes so _nasty._"

"You'd never believe some of the messes Ella has made." Miriam shook her head with a smile that could be amused with the distance from having to clean them up. "Having more than a three pack of onesies and two sleepers should help though. Oh! Speaking of messes…" Miriam grabbed a plastic box from the top of the pile. "Feel free to tell me to take these back home, but I brought over some cloth diapers Ella has outgrown as well. We're saving these for baby number two, but you'd be welcome to borrow them since that's not happening immediately."

Blaine stared over at the box, hands full at the moment. "You know I try to be green when I can, but aren't those complicated? Fabric and pins and stuff?"

Miriam shook her head with an amused smile. "Not anymore. I mean, you can buy that stuff still, be we knew we'd be too lazy with all the demands of a tiny baby." She pulled one out of the tub, showing it to Blaine. "It's all one piece. You just adjust the size, he's probably there." Miriam fiddled with snaps on the front of the diaper. "Then you just velcro it on like a disposable. There's a waterproof wetbag in here, too, that you'd keep dirty ones in until you wash them. Just do an extra rinse and no fabric softener for now. We could talk fancy washing routines and other diaper types if you actually like it."

Blaine watched Miriam fiddle with the bright blue diaper in her hands before he nodded. "Can I give it a try? I like the idea of not throwing so many diapers into a landfill."

"I thought you might. And if you don't like it, I can just take them back sooner. If you do, I can help you pick out some of your own by the time he outgrows these. And it's not an all or nothing or something you'd have to start right now. I debated waiting a few weeks before offering the loan, so don't feel bad about wanting to wait a few weeks before you try them out." Miriam offered, eyes on the baby. "God, he's adorable."

"He's practically the spitting image of my big brother. There's no doubt at all in my mind that Cooper's his dad." Blaine pulled the practically empty bottle away, running his hands through the baby's fine brown hair. "I'd offer him over to you, but he's probably just throw up all over your outfit."

"How are you burping him afterward?" Miriam asked, watching as Blaine demonstrated. "Huh. Well, I doubt that it's the whole problem, but maybe he'd be better off sitting on your knee? Then his stomach wouldn't be all compressed. At the very least, it might keep the vomit from running down your back if it happens."

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked curiously, offering Julian over to Miriam to demonstrate, along with a clean kitchen towel.

Miriam propped Julian up on her knee, rubbing at the baby's back. "Not going to guarantee this will help, but it worked well for Ella. She was never the kind of vomiter, though, that it sounds like this guy is."

"Can we put that on his baby resume? Grade A puker?" Blaine joked.

Miriam grinned back. "Maybe."

* * *

After a few more minutes of imparting parenting wisdom, Miriam passed back a Julian who still had his whole bottle in him, but had started to fuss again. "Now, I just need your car keys."

"My car keys?" Blaine asked, tucking Julian back up against his chest, rubbing at the baby's back in an attempt to soothe him. "Shh. You're fine."

"I have one more gift for you. Your timing was good. We just moved Ella out of her infant seat into a convertible one two weeks ago. She was getting too heavy to make carrying her in it worth the convenience anymore."

Blaine blinked back the tears coming to his eyes. He could totally blame this on a sleepless night, right? "Thank you. I don't think I can put into words how much this all means to me." He tried to cover the emotion by shifting position to pull his keys out of his pocket and toss them over.

Miriam caught the keys and then moved to pull Blaine into a quick squeeze of a hug, working around the baby. "And how many times have you gone out of your way to help people? We're our own form of family. It's what we do."

* * *

Kurt finished the last bit of tidying up in the kitchen, Tina and Mike already on their way home. The cabinet door had gotten rehung, and if some of them lacked hardware, well, that was probably not going to be the big red flag that no doors at all was, right?

He paused, eying the take out menus that Blaine had already managed to stick to the door of the refrigerator in his first month or so living there. He pulled off the menu to a Chinese restaurant, glancing over it as he stepped up to the doorway. "How do you feel about sharing some take out and bad reality TV before I head home?"

When he didn't get an immediate response, Kurt looked up from the menu. Blaine had managed to convince the baby to actually nap in his pack and play, and was sitting on the floor sorting the donated clothes by size. Or at least, that looked like what he'd intended to be doing. Instead, he was just staring at the cell phone he was holding. "You alright, Blaine?" Kurt inquired, stepping further into the living space.

Blaine startled at the sound of his name, looking up to Kurt for a moment before he nodded. "I- I think so. I just got a phone call from the social worker. Julian's one."

Kurt nodded, not bothering to point out that he wasn't expecting other social workers to be calling up Blaine out of the blue. "Working late on a Sunday, huh?"

"Yeah." Blaine said simply turning to look over to the sleeping baby. "Sorry. I just - I wasn't expecting that."

"Wasn't expecting what?" Kurt prodded, walking the few feet over to move a pile of baby clothes and sink down to sit beside Blaine, still trying to figure out just what was wrong with his friend.

"She called to tell me that Julian's mother passed away in the hospital today." Blaine let out in a rush. "I don't even know how I should feel. I mean, I've never met her. Obviously she's made some choices that weren't the best, but she's his mother."

Kurt leaned in, wrapping an arm around Blaine's shoulder, pulling him into a side hug. With as touchy feely as the other man seemed, Kurt could only imagine that he'd take physical comfort. "The idea that there's an acceptable way to feel is crap. You feel the way you do. You can't force yourself to feel the way you should."

Blaine leaned his head against Kurt's arm, accepting the comfort. "Mostly, I feel for Julian. How is he going to deal with the fact that he'll never have a chance to remember her, for good or for bad. How am I going to explain this to him someday? That his mother needed drugs so much she couldn't stay around to raise him? That his father is too much of an immature asshole to be trusted with a houseplant let alone a child? So he got me by default? What if he resents me horribly for that?"

Kurt pulled Blaine closer, tucking him into his side. "You realize it's going to take awhile before he can talk, let alone ask those kinds of questions, right?" He waited until his saw Blaine crack a smile before continuing on. "You've got years to find the right way to phrase things. I'd be more worried right now about finding the best brand of stain remover."

Blaine let out a crackle of laughter, letting himself snuggle in against Kurt's warmth. "Of course you would."

"Honestly? It's going to be tough no matter what, but you're going to do a good job raising him."

"How do you know that? I could be shit as a parental figure." Blaine pointed out, tilting his head to look Kurt in the eyes.

"I've heard the way you talk about kids. You'll screw up, because everyone does, but you'll keep trying. And you care about him. That's the most important part."

"How did you get to be so wise?"

"I learned from the best. My dad." Kurt said with a soft smile. "We had some rough patches, but over all? He managed to raise me well, on his own for a lot of my life."

"Then where does that leave me? My parents weren't exactly models of the kind of warmth and love that I want Julian to grow up feeling."

"It leaves you learning from their example in a totally different way." Kurt pulled back so that he could turn, facing Blaine head on. "Plus, you do have the benefit of having taken classes in child development, right?"

Blaine broke into a smile at that before he started laughing. "Right. I suppose I've spent enough of my life working with large groups of kids that sitting here freaking out about how I'm going to deal with one sounds pretty silly, huh?"

Kurt smirked over with raised eyebrows. "Do you really want an answer to that?" He teased before adding more seriously. "I get the freaking out. This all freaks me out a little bit, and it's not even my life it's thrown into disarray."

"I think it's just hitting me now that this is permanent." Blaine admitted. "There had been the chance that he was only going to be with me for a few months. But he's never going back to his mom. He's not going to Cooper. I don't want my parents to take him. And well, despite the fact that he's thrown up on me at least ten times in the past twenty four hours, I don't want to give the little guy up."

"Then let's press forward. I'll order us some Chinese food, and we'll pop in a movie, preferably one not starring superheroes or Harry Potter, unless it's a super hot superhero. Or we'll see what crazy people are on Bravo. While the TV's on, we'll finish sorting out the tiniest of these clothes so Julian can spread his mess around to more objects. Agreed?"

Blaine nodded, leaning in to press a kiss to Kurt's cheek. That was friend zone enough, right? "Agreed."

6


	6. Chapter 6

Blaine finished showing the social worker around his home, so grateful for all the friends that had made it possible to get the cabinet doors rehung. He'd been expecting this visit on fairly short warning, but 10 o'clock on Tuesday morning after an 8:30 phone call had indeed been short warning.

Julian had just gone down a nap in the play pen, once again stationed in the living room, when Cassandra had arrived, giving Blaine the freedom to just focus on the visit and trying not to put himself into too bad of a light, despite three nights now of practically no sleep.

"Would you like a cup of coffee or a glass of water?" Blaine asked as he led the social worker back into the living room, leaving behind the slowly diminishing pile of boxes that would hopefully soon be a nursery, stuck hoping that wouldn't reflect too badly on him.

"I'm fine, thank you, but feel free to grab something for yourself." Blaine rubbed at his eyes wondering just how noticeable the dark circles were by now if the social worker was sending him off for coffee.

"Give me one moment, and I'll be right back." Blaine said gratefully, waving the woman toward a chair in the living room. The coffee was made, so all he had to do was pour it into a mug, to which he added enough sugar to give him that extra rush to get through the interview he knew was coming.

"Is Julian sleeping well?" Cassandra asked as Blaine settled down to sit on the couch, letting them face each other comfortably.

Blaine couldn't hold back the snort. "I wish. I think he sleeps more during the day than he does at night. He definitely has yet to sleep for more than a two hour period. I'm thanking God for coffee." Blaine raised his mug in toast to the wonderful liquid.

"And how are you dealing with that?" The woman prompted

"With lots of coffee, for a start. Sleeping when I can. I quit my summer job, pulled back to just some volunteer hours, so I've been able to at least catch some naps during the day when Julian does." Blaine answered, shrugging. "I don't know if there's any way to deal with it other than to push forward, and hope he grows out of it."

"That sounds like it's working with it for now. Just remember to take a break if you feel your temper slipping. It's better for him to cry for a few minutes than for you to do something you'd regret." Cassandra noted, as she crossed her legs and settled into the chair. "Have you taken him in to see a pediatrician yet?"

"No, but I did schedule an appointment. I spent most of the day yesterday on the phone with the insurance company, and then made an appointment with my friend Miriam's pediatrician. I'm taking him in tomorrow afternoon." Blaine sat forward on the edge of the couch, trying to sound like he had things more together than he felt.

"Good. You might want to talk to him about establishing better sleeping patterns with Julian." The social worker noted, pausing to look at Blaine thoughtfully for just a moment before she added, "I'm not going to officially require you to do it, but I think that taking a parenting class would be good for you." She waited until Blaine nodded, ready to agree to about anything, then continued. "An agency we partner with has a class that focuses on parenting infants and toddlers. I can give you information on it on my way out. I know that they'd be happy to have you bring Julian along."

"That sounds rather perfect actually." Blaine admitted. "My friend Kurt pointed out that I've taken lots of classes on child development, but they haven't focused in a concrete way on working with kids younger than four or so. I could tell you all about the stages of children's development according to both Piaget and Vygotsky, but it's not helping to get a baby sleeping at night."

"In four years, you'll have this down then?" The woman joked before her tone returned to a serious one. "I do have a list of other topics we need to discuss. I know they might sound a little bit invasive at times, but they're necessary to help you consider the way you want to parent. And for me to be confident that this is a safe placement for Julian."

Blaine nodded, taking a gulp of coffee before he responded. "Ask away. I'll answer whatever you need."

"I'd like to start with how you were parented. What was your relationship like with your parents when you were a child?"

Blaine paled. This wasn't the topic he'd wanted to discuss today, but he'd had a hunch it would come up at some point, if only to explain why he was a better choice to raise Julian than his parents. "I think the best word to describe my parents was, and is, distant. They both spent a lot of time working, and traveling for work, when I was a kid, but they made sure I was taken care of. They used Au Pairs, so I had a new one to watch me every year or two, always from the Philippines. I'm half-Filipino, so my mother thought it was a good way to imbue the culture into my life." Blaine shrugged, unsure if he had even answered the woman's question.

"And how did you feel about them as a child?" She prompted.

"Oh God. I, well, I looked up to them a lot. I remember thinking as a child that they must be two of the most important people in the world. They're not, of course, but at six, it sure seemed like it. I definitely had a lot of hero worship of them, back when I was a little kid." Blaine's posture relaxed from the stiffness of trying to seem perfect as he spoke wistfully.

"And did that change?"

"Of course. I mean, I grew up and learned to see things with a new perspective." Blaine paused for just a moment, coming to a decision. He wasn't going to even try to hide his sexuality. There were plenty of non-traditional families in L.A. "Right about the end of eighth grade, I came out to them. That put an extra strain on things. They've never really come right out to say anything hurtful about it, but, well, it can still be an undertone in conversation, even today. The next summer, my dad was suddenly home a lot more. He had me rebuilding a car with him, as if some combination of having more of a male role model and working with cars would make me straight. I'm still not sure they understand to this day that this is just who I am. No one did anything to make me gay. It's just always been a part of me."

Cassandra didn't even bat an eye at Blaine's admission of his sexuality, instead focusing in on how it effected his relationship with his parents. "Are you in regular contact with them now?"

"I'm not sure how much would be considered regular, but we are in contact. We have dinner whenever their business brings them into the area. I try to fly back at least once a year. We occasionally talk on the phone."

"And they know about you taking custody of Julian?" At Blaine's nod in the affirmative, Cassandra continued, "And they support it?"

Blaine gave another nod as he downed a swig of coffee. "They do. I talked to my mother on the phone yesterday. Cooper had at least managed to follow through and call them like I asked. My parents were happy to know that I had him. Even if they don't really want to meet any of my boyfriends, I know they trust me to be responsible enough to make sure he's taken care of. They wanted me to know that they were planning to start a college fund for him and wanted to pay daycare costs, which honestly will be quite appreciated. I could have budgeted and paid for it, but it would have been tight on one teacher's salary." Blaine listed the positive points, doing his best to hide any hurt he'd felt over the fact the list of their support didn't actually include coming to visit their grandchild. His mother had at least seemed to appreciate the picture he'd sent, even if she hadn't asked for it.

"And your relationship with Cooper? What is that like?"

"He's quite a few years older than me, so that put a distance between us by itself when I was a child. I both looked up to him, the way little brothers do, and felt constantly criticized by him." Blaine admitted openly. "He always made sure that I knew exactly what I was doing wrong. I was still in elementary school when he moved to L.A., so that definitely didn't strengthen our relationship. But we've moved past all of that. When I was in high school, I came out to Los Angeles and stayed with him while I visited colleges, and we talked through all the issues between us. Now we get along pretty well. I'd say we're friends, despite all our differences. It's nice to have family out here in the big city."

* * *

They spent the next hour talking through discipline styles and Blaine's personal, and probably idealistic, views on parenting, heavily influenced by both what he wished he could change about his own upbringing and by his experiences with the families of children he taught. With an interruption when Julian awoke to change his diaper, the conversation finally started to wind down.

Julian was settled to play on a blanket spread out over the floor as the social worker moved on to discuss the future. "Right now, it looks like we're going to be trying to move this case toward either permanent guardianship or adoption, as long as your brother is in support of that plan. I'll get you the information about parenting classes and stay in touch to make sure that things are going well. After six months, we can proceed with court hearings to put him permanently in your care. My goal would be to have this all legally finalized before Julian turns one."

Blaine nodded along, trying to do his best to hide the way that hearing all that made his head spin. It was still slowly sinking in that this was forever. Julian really was going to be his to love and to raise.

* * *

_**How would you feel about me stopping by with dinner? I could try out that revitalized kitchen and cook something**__**…**_

Blaine glanced down at his phone, smile already on his face before he read the text message. Anything Kurt sent was enough to brighten his day.

**I feel great about dinner, but how about either going out or going to your place. **Blaine quickly replied

_**Starting to go stir crazy?**_

Blaine finished moving a load of laundry over the dryer before he grabbed his phone again to reply to that.

**Beyond starting. I think I've moved into full fledged stir crazy-ness.**

_**Well then, I suppose it's up to me to save you. My place for dinner it is. Then, if need be, we can always go for a walk or out to find ice cream. **_Kurt must have had his phone with him, because the reply came quickly as Blaine made his way back to the main living area of the house.

**Sounds like the perfect summer night. Text me directions?**

Blaine tossed his phone down onto his couch, turning to look around the living room. What would he need to take with him besides the baby? He grabbed a re-usable shopping bag and some disposable diapers from the box he'd bought last Saturday. He'd fairly successfully tried out some of the cloth diapers Miriam had lent him, but he wasn't ready to attempt that on the road yet.

At the sound of the doorbell ringing, Kurt wiped his hands off on a hand towel tossing it on the kitchen counter before he headed through his living room to get the door. "Blaine!" He greeted, opening it wide to let Blaine get the infant carseat he was carrying through the entrance.

"Kurt! Thank you for being my savior. If I stared at the walls of my house any longer, I might have really started to lose it." Blaine admitted, glancing around the room for a minute before he moved to set the carseat down on the couch, setting the bag of diapers and supplies beside it.

"I'm glad I might be of service." Kurt joked waving around the room. "I can give you the grand tour from here."

Blaine laughed at that, glancing from the couch toward the dining table, already set for two. "Is that the table we looked at?"

"It is! I found two of the chairs at a flea market, already had the other two. The wood tone of the table went well with it, I thought." Kurt glanced toward the kitchen, "Why don't you get settled in, and I'll go finish dinner?"

"I think it does, too." Blaine added in before nodding in affirmation. He leaned down to start unbuckling Julian from his seat as he spoke up. "Okay. Thank you for cooking for me."

"My pleasure." Kurt favored Blaine with a quick smile as he made his way back to the stove.

It didn't take much longer for Blaine to scoop Julian up out of his seat, settling him in his arms turned so that the wide eyed baby could see what was going on. He made his way over to pause on the edge of the kitchen, where Kurt was sliding fillets of fish into a frying pan.

"Is that salmon?" Blaine asked, trying not to startle the cook.

"It is. We're having salmon and some stir fried vegetables. I thought it sounded like a good plan to have a really healthy dinner, so that we could go ruin it with ice cream." Kurt joked, eyes on the fish sizzling in the pan.

"I have to say that I fully support that plan."

"I thought you might." Kurt turned around, apparently satisfied with the heat of the light sheen of oil in the pan. The baby got a second take. "I think that this is the first time I've seen that guy look actually happy." Kurt commented.

"I'm not surprised to hear that, really." Blaine turned Julian in his arms so that he could more easily see the infant's face. "One of the few times I've made it out of the house since Saturday was to take Julian to the doctor yesterday. I'm calling the man a miracle worker."

"Oh?" Kurt prodded, turning back to the stove to flip the vegetables.

"I'll admit that it was more than a bit overwhelming. It's hard because we don't have a lot of medical history on Julian, other than the hospital records from when he was born. So we don't know, for example, what his growth has been like, other than that he's apparently not gained as much weight as the doctor would have expected, based on his birth weight. We have to go back next week for a nurse to weigh him, so we can start to track it." Blaine let out a sigh at the memory. "We were there for hours, and a few scary terms were thrown around that I'm glad I didn't really know what meant until I googled them today. They went as far as doing an ultrasound to rule out something."

Blaine ran a hand over the baby's hair smoothing it down. "But based on how he's acting, with the vomiting and the fussing, the doctor thought that he had reflux issues. He had me change formulas and started him on some medication as a trial, along with a few other things. He told me that I should be able to tell within the week if it was the right course of action. I didn't expect this much more content of a baby only a day later, though. I feel like he's a whole new kid."

Kurt turned to look the baby over for a moment. "He looks cuter when he's not crying." The taller man finally decided.

"I fully agree." Blaine said with a laugh. "He just broke out in this huge smile at me earlier. I just - I hadn't realized how quickly I'm falling for him. That and I was cursing the fact that my phone was across the room, so I couldn't take a picture."

"Your phone is going to end up full of baby pictures, isn't it?" Kurt teased, turning to flip over the fish in the pan.

"Better than cat photos?" Blaine joked right back.

Kurt raised a judging eyebrow. "Slightly." He decided as he turned the look down on Julian, who was busy staring down at his fist as he attempted to shove the whole thing in his mouth. "As long as he's not attempting to eat himself in them."

"Hah. Hah." Blaine leaned up against the countertop, far enough away from the stove that nothing could spatter on him, or the content baby in his arms. "So, how has work been? Can we talk about something that doesn't involve three month olds? You're helping me keep my sanity, right?"

"Right. So, work. Hmm. Well, Marjorie got into a fight yesterday with this episode's director. It was pretty epic. She could give some of the divas I've gone to school with a run for their money. Remind me to never cross her." Kurt grabbed a bowl out of the cover to transfer the vegetables over to after one last stir through.

"I'll make sure I do." Blaine grinned at that. "What riled her up so much? She's your boss right?"

"Mmmhmm. Head of the wardrobe department. Well, this episode is supposed to be partly set in the middle ages. So we, of course, made costumes that are historically accurate to that period. But, you see, that didn't fit the director's vision. The other two directors I've met have been great. This guy seems like kind of an ass." Kurt rolled his eyes as he slid the fish pieces out onto a plate.

"He didn't want the costumes to actually be middle ages garb?" Blaine balanced Julian carefully against his chest, reaching out to grab the bowl of vegetables to carry to the table, keeping it out of the reach of slobbery baby hands. "No, little guy. Sorry. Not for you yet."

Kurt stifled laughter as he followed behind, sliding the fish down onto the table to take his usual seat. "I don't think he had any idea what people actually wore in the middle ages. His view was definitively fixed on the Renaissance. Marjorie ripped him a new one until he gave in. Pointed out that he could be an uninformed idiot if he chose to be, but the characters were certainly both smarter and more knowledgeable than he was. At times she rather reminds me of this girl I went to high school with, Santana. She was a fierce friend, but that didn't stop anyone, friend or foe, from getting the sharp edge of her tongue if she thought you deserved it."

"I always kind of wondered what that was like." Blaine moved after a moment's thought, to grab Julian's carseat, setting it down by his chair to put the baby into it, settling a baby toy at his side.

"Hearing my boss verbally castigate people?"

Blaine laughed openly, shaking his head. "Oh. No. Going to high school with girls. I didn't even quite last to the end of the first quarter in public school. Then I was at Dalton, so I never really had any female friends in high school."

"Huh. All of my close friends in high school were girls. I can't imagine going to an all boys school. It must have been nice to feel so safe, don't get me wrong, but there were good things about McKinley, especially as seen from this distance." Kurt dished up his food as he considered that. "Freedom to express my individuality even if it didn't always go over well. My glee club, especially my friends there. Mercedes, Rachel, Tina."

"You just would have made different friends at Dalton. I'm still good friends with some of the guys, even if none of them live in L.A. Individuality? That would have been a harder note. There was definitely more than just a desire to see boys in ties and blazers behind having a uniform. It made us all fit together. It wasn't about standing out as yourself but rather fitting in to the whole and bringing in your own unique talents to make that whole stronger."

* * *

Blaine shifted the ice cream cone in his hand, juggling Julian against his hip to lick at it. "I think one of my next baby type investments is going to have to be a stroller."

"We can go back and grab his seat out of the car." Kurt offered, finding them a table in the back of the busy ice cream shop. "I would have thought this place would have more than one already in use high chair."

"High chair. Let me put that on my list, too." Blaine sighed. "But no. We can manage. It would be more of a pain to lug that thing around in here. I think." They'd taken Blaine's car despite the place being fairly close to Kurt's. It had seemed the easiest way to haul everything. He shuffled into a seat, setting Julian awkwardly in his lap so that the little guy was leaning back against his uncle's stomach.

"If you want some help with all that shopping, you know who to come to." Kurt offered, a grin on his face as he dipped his spoon down into his bowl of ice cream. "Granted, I know nothing about buying baby things, but I love to shop. We could be clueless together."

"Sounds rather more fun than being clueless on my own." Blaine admitted, laughing before he bit back a swear word as the ice cream in his cone dripped down onto his hand, and even worse, the pair of dark jeans he was wearing, barely missing dripping on the baby's leg. "Shoot." Blaine corrected himself, licking a stripe up his hand and then the cone to get the ice cream off. He stood, pulling Julian to his side before he glanced over at Kurt. "Here. Take him for me? I need to grab some napkins. How did we forget those?"

"Because we weren't feeding it to the baby?" Kurt muttered jokingly. He didn't even have time to protest taking Julian or to offer to get the napkins himself instead before he found his arms thrust full of infant. Kurt turned the baby awkwardly in his arms, starting down at the bright eyed little boy. "Um. Hi?"

Kurt shot a 'help me' look after Blaine, but was too late. He could already see his friend ducking into the men's room, probably to wash the food out of his pant leg. "I guess we're hanging out, huh?" Kurt tried to shift the baby in his arms into the position he usually saw people hold them in. "So. I suppose I was bound to end up with an armful of you at some point, right?"

The baby had no response other than to squirm in Kurt's grasp reaching for the man's spoon. "No. No ice cream for babies. You don't need more ammunition. Can you have a talk with your uncle about his ice cream eating habits, though?" Kurt pushed his ice cream back from the edge, reaching up to run his hand along the soft skin of Julian's cheek. "How am I supposed to think 'just friends' thoughts when he's over there licking at his hand? Not to mention the actual cone." Kurt sighed in frustration before his gaze softened as the baby snuggled in against him, caught in a huge yawn. "You're not so bad, are you? Can we make a deal that I'll hold you more, if you agree not to vomit or pee on me?" Kurt reached out and shook a tiny hand before he let the baby grasp his finger, pulling it close. "I'm glad we could come to an agreement, Jules."

At the sound of a laugh, Kurt looked back up to see Blaine had returned. His hands were full between an ice cream cone now wrapped in napkins and the cell phone he held in the other hand. "Sorry, it was too cute to not take a picture. So, Jules, huh?"

**A/N: So this is going up later in the day than I'd like, but at least it's still Sunday here. Easter bit me in the rear as far as business today (in a totally great way). **

**As a side note, in April, I'm planning to press ahead with Camp Nanowrimo with a half size goal of 25,000 words, most of which will, in total rebel form, be devoted to finishing this. If there's anyone else jumping into Nano this month as well, I'd love to chat about it either here or at my tumblr (Tonks42). **


	7. Chapter 7

Blaine wasn't surprised to find that he'd arrived the coffee shop first, despite the fact that he was running ten minutes late, from trying to get out the door with a baby who had needed a diaper change as soon as Blaine was ready to leave, and the fact that they'd chosen one much closer to Cooper's house than to his own. "Well, Julian, let's just get ourselves some coffee and a place to sit then, huh?" He glanced down at the baby in his car seat. "Well, maybe no coffee for you. Caffeine and baby sounds like a bad idea."

He had time to get himself a coffee and a muffin, and to settle himself and Julian down into a booth in the back. Letting the car seat sit on the bench beside him had seemed like the easiest plan. He'd just peeled the wrapper off his muffin when Cooper finally showed up. "Blaine! I have great news!"

Blaine tried to keep his sigh mental as he nodded. "Grab a coffee and then come tell me?"

And thus, twenty minutes after the time they were originally supposed to meet, Blaine finally found himself seated in a booth across from his brother, listening to his story. "And I got the part! It's going to be at least four episodes, but they might extend my role to more if it works out."

"That's great, Coop." Blaine inserted, pushing the last of his muffin back. "When do you start?"

"In a week. The only downside is that it doesn't shoot in L.A. So I have to go up to Vancouver for at least a month." Despite that being a downside, Cooper didn't seem all that worried. If anything, Blaine was sure his brother was excited about making his mark in a new city.

"Vancouver, huh?" Blaine pushed the plate away from him, reaching down to pull Julian out of his seat, settling him into his arms instead. Maybe Cooper would at least notice the presence of his son when he was staring him right in the face, Blaine thought.

It was a silly thought though, apparently. "I've never been to Canada, but I do have a valid passport. I always make sure I keep one just in case an opportunity like this arises."

"That's great, Cooper." Blaine echoed, passing Julian a plastic spoon to play with, which mostly entailed of waving it in front of his face. "Really, I'm happy for you, but I did need to talk about something else."

"Oh yeah. You did call me here before you knew anything about the role I'd gotten. What's up, little bro?" Blaine thought Cooper seemed rather confused. As if he was unsure what Blaine could possibly have called him here for other than to hear about Cooper's new role.

Blaine lifted Julian in answer. "Your son?"

"He's not my son." Cooper said quickly before adding on, at the absolutely shocked expression on Blaine's face. "I mean, biologically? Yes. I contributed some _awesome_ genetics to the little thing. But he's not my _son_. He's yours."

"Mine?" Blaine's expression shifted from shocked at his brother's words to resigned. "You're not going to take any responsibility here are you?"

"What do you want from me?" Cooper leaned across the table towards Blaine. "I'm not cut out to be a dad. Especially on my own."

"And I am?" Blaine shifted back in the booth, unconsciously moving away from his brother.

"You are! You'd be a much better dad for him than I would. I'd just screw it all up. I don't mean we should lie to him about where he came from, but you are his dad. I'm not the one getting up with him in the night or cleaning his shitty diapers. It's not like I never want to see him, but why can't I just be the fun uncle?"

"Because I'm not the one who was careless enough to have a baby and then hide it from my family." Blaine tried to keep his tone low enough that the people in the next booth wouldn't know they were arguing, or at least what exactly they were arguing about, but he couldn't keep the tension out of it.

"Doesn't that just show that I'm not ready to raise him?" Cooper sank back into his side of the booth as well. "I'm not. I'm admitting that about myself. I just- I do want him to have the best start in life he can, and I think we both know that you're it, Blaine. Dad isn't. My mom sure isn't. And really? I'm not."

Blaine shifted Julian around in his arms so that he was facing the little boy. "I guess I am. We've survived the first week together at least." The tension was cut as it turned into Blaine holding back laughter at the startled look on Julian's face as he accidentally bopped himself in the nose with the spoon he'd been toying with. "Dad. I guess, I could take on that title someday at least. Maybe I'll ease into it."

* * *

Blaine had never felt like so much of a rock star. Or maybe so much like the parent of a rock star. He'd been on strict instructions from Miriam to get himself out of the house and come to church today, and frankly, he'd been planning to go anyway. Putting on a bowtie and getting out to talk to other adults had never sounded so good. He had no idea how stay at home mothers did it, but getting out of the house at least once a day had kept him much saner than he'd been when he'd arrived at Kurt's on Thursday night.

Julian was quite the center of attention as he waited for church to start. Blaine had even managed to take enough time to go get himself a cup of coffee as one of the older ladies in the church cooed over the baby. Blaine swore that the entire female population of the church, and a good percentage of the men, had at least been over to see the baby, if not to wait for a turn to hold him.

Kelly had insisted that Blaine and Julian sit with her and Ella. "Miriam is off in the fellowship hall getting things ready for after church. We brought some of the snacks today. Then she's singing with the choir, so she'll be sitting with them today. I am under strict instructions to invite you to sit with us, though." Kelly gave an affectionate role of her eyes at the orders of her wife.

So, Julian's car seat was settled on a seat near where Kelly was sitting, but Blaine was standing in the aisle with the baby. The church was purposely constructed in an informal manner, rows of padded chairs taking the place of pews, with long thin tables at the front of each row for churchgoers to put whatever they needed to on, which usually entailed cups of the provided coffee and tea.

When the choir came out to start singing a call to worship song, Blaine reclaimed the baby, moving to sink down into the chair next to Kelly.

"It was like that the first couple of weeks we brought Ella." Kelly leaned over to whisper. "It'll die down, but there will always be more than enough offers of arms to hold him or people to watch him when you need them. No need to take him into the bathroom with you here."

Blaine laughed at that, settling Julian so that the baby was sitting in his lap, legs facing forward, one of Blaine's arms securely around his middle. He'd always liked Kelly, but he was definitely closer to her wife, with all their shared time at choir practices. Sitting next to the woman without Miriam in the mix was nice, but a bit odd. "I'll keep that in mind. It's nice to know they all care enough to want to meet him. And I can't really be bothered, when I know I've been the one clamoring to hold new babies in the past."

Kelly looked Blaine over quickly then nodded. "Karma? And how are you holding up with all of this?"

"Karma." Blaine agreed before he shrugged. "Better. The first few days were really rough, but the doctor started him on some miracle drug, as I'm choosing to think of his reflux medication. It's amazing how much more better this is, and how much cuter he seems, when he's not screaming all the time and I'm actually getting a little bit of sleep. I never thought I'd appreciate four uninterrupted hours of sleep so much."

Kelly laughed quietly at that. "Welcome to parenthood." She joked before straightening up. The pastor was moving to the front of the church. Time to even whisper was over.

"Welcome! Good morning! I'm so glad that you all found your way out of bed this morning and into church!" The man adjusted the microphone attached to his tie as he stepped forward. He paused to roll up the sleeves of his dress shirt with a grin. "That's better. It is summer. I suppose I should have dressed for it this morning." The congregation laughed lightly along, humoring the pastor as much as anything else. "I want to start today by welcoming everyone who is here for the first time, from our youngest newcomer back there," he shot a smile back at Blaine, "to all those of us who try to stay young at heart." The man's eyes roved, landing on two other clusters of newcomers and favoring them with smiles of greeting. "Our welcome extends to everyone here no matter who you are or where you are on your life's journey. Remember that after the service there will be refreshments in the fellowship hall. Please come over and get to know your fellow church members a little bit better. Today is a great day to do that, as we have a special surprise waiting."

Blaine turned at that last line to look over at Kelly in askance. She just shrugged, but the smile she was trying to hide told Blaine that indeed, something was up.

* * *

After worship was over, with only one derailment at the very end requiring Blaine to grab the canvas shopping tote he was still using as a diaper bag to head in the back, and to be glad that there was both a changing table in the men's restroom, as well as the women's, and that he'd packed an entire change of clothes for Julian.

So, it was in this new outfit, that Blaine and Julian made their way into the fellowship hall, fashionably late. Blaine glanced around in shock when the first people he laid eyes on were Mike and Tina, standing behind the food table chatting with Miriam. What were they doing here? They usually only came with him to church on days like Christmas and Easter, and they certainly hadn't been in service today.

His shock was only compounded when he saw who was walking up to him with the kind of smile he could picture on a cat who has just been presented with an entire bowl full of cream. "Kurt? What are you doing here?" A church was the last place he'd ever expected to find Kurt after their first coffee date.

"Helping to throw your baby shower, of course." Kurt stated, stopping at his elbow. "Miriam called Tina and Mike about it earlier this week. I guess she still had the number of their house phone because it used to be yours?" Blaine nodded in understanding at that, finally taking in the blue tablecloths and little yellow ducks that had been used to decorate the space. "She specifically asked them to bring me. How could I say no? Even if a last minute shower didn't really give us the chance to decorate to a standard I'd consider truly acceptable."

That last part choked a laugh out of Blaine. "It looks great. Thank you. Wow. I didn't expect anyone to do this." His eyes caught on all the people seated around the room, already digging into plates of finger foods and cupcakes, and to a pile of presents on a table up front that had somehow arrived at church without Blaine being any the wiser.

"Expected or not, isn't one of the points of a baby shower to set you up with things you need for the baby? And you need a lot. Well, that and to give everyone without small children the chance to shop for adorable baby things." Kurt glanced around, tucking his hands down into his pockets. "Now, go be social. They're certainly not here to see me."

* * *

Blaine was not sorry to find out that they'd decided to skip out on doing any typical baby shower games. The chance to enjoy food and good company while people gushed over Julian was more than enough. Add in all the gifts, and it had made for a real blessing.

Blaine glanced up from his chair, busy settling new baby clothes into a neat pile, or at least condensing them into less gift bags, as someone sat down beside him. "Kurt! You survived a whole church party."

"I did. No one even looked at me like I was the devil." Kurt joked as he stretched long legs out in front of him. "It may pain me to admit it, but I actually had a few good conversations. Even got the chance to discuss living in New York verse Los Angeles with another fellow transplant."

"I'm glad you had fun. Or at least managed to not get yourself kicked out." Blaine quipped right back. He'd not had a chance to talk to Kurt since he'd walked in, but Blaine had glanced up to check on him from time to time, always finding him either busy at work with the food or seemingly deep in conversation. "You know, when I pictured an ideal man for me, his religion or lack there of was never important, but I'd always kind of hoped to find someone who was comfortable coming along to the purely social events. I've never been hung up on having someone to sit beside me in church on Sunday, but I've always wanted someone to drag along to barbecues. Just putting it out there, since we're so carefully not dating."

"Hmm. I suppose I could be occasionally dragged along if I'm allowed to return home to critic their choice in food or footwear or something. If we ever decide to move past carefully not dating." Kurt didn't look over to Blaine as he responded though, instead fixing his eyes on a pile of tiny clothes perched on top of a stroller box. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen so many preppy baby outfits in one place. This child is already starting a bow tie collection isn't he?"

Blaine tried not to give in to a laugh at the teasing, turning to toss a miniature sweater vest over at Kurt. "Shut up. I think he'll look adorable in all of it."

"Of course you do." Kurt stated dryly, picking the vest up off his chest and turning it around as if to make the point. "Honestly? I think it's sweet. Not only did they go out of their way to get presents at the last minute, but it's things that obviously reminded them of the way you dress or how they thought you personally would dress a little boy." Kurt leaned across to lay the vest in the pile, giving Blaine's bowtie a tweak on the way back up.

"I realized something today as I watched everyone with Julian. No matter what my parents or Cooper bring to the table, he's going to grow up with plenty of people to love him." Blaine glanced over to where the baby was using his car seat a good place to take a nap after all the hard work of getting passed around and cuddled. "My parents will probably never be the kind of grandparents that I want for him, the kind I always wanted as a kid, but look how many people there are to step into that role, ready to love him and spoil him."

"I guess you've found your village." Kurt quipped in reply as Blaine finished folding the last of the baby clothes, condensing them down into a couple of the bigger now tissue paper-less gift bags.

Blaine reached out to pluck a dark grey, corduroy diaper bag from the pile. "I didn't get the chance earlier to thank you for this. Did you sew it yourself?" Blaine opened the flap on the messenger style bag to look inside. The bag itself was lined in a black cotton fabric with a subtle pattern of dark music notes written all over it.

"I did." Kurt reached out to gesture to the back side of a thick divider. "The front side is just lined with interfacing, but I lined the back with a waterproof fabric. You can still wash and dry the bag with it in, but it should help keep you, and whatever you have in the front half dry if a bottle spills or some other mess happens. All of the fabric was pre-washed, and I used pretty sturdy hardware, so hopefully it will hold up." Kurt looked away from his creation to tease Blaine with a smile. "If I'm going to be seen out in public with you, I had to make sure you were carrying a diaper bag I wouldn't be embarrassed by. Have you seen some of the horrible designs? I saw one once that had little teddy bears on it that looked like they might come alive and eat you."

"Well, whatever the motivation, thank you. I love it. It's very me, and certainly will work better than a reusable Target bag." Blaine leaned over to give Kurt a quick squeeze around the shoulders as well in thanks.

"I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but I think we need to start cleaning up." Tina said, strolling over with a satisfied smile on her face, Mike at her side.

"I'm here to help you load up your car. And maybe ours if need be." Mike added.

"Thank you. I could certainly use the help. And thank you both for all your help with this. It really was wonderful." Blaine stated earnestly.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. My last shower gift to you is the loan of my husband for the afternoon." Tina added dryly, clearly joking. "Take him home and make him help you put the stroller and high chair and all that together. If you can get the baby to sleep, you can even keep him long enough for a round of video game playing."

Blaine exchanged a quick, excited smile with Mike before he just laughed at Tina and replied in just as playfully snarky of a tone. "Well, thank you for allowing me the company of a grown adult. I'm sure he's glad to have your blessing."

"I'm sure he is. Kurt, can you help me clean up the decorations? Miriam's getting the dishes washed as we speak." Tina added more seriously.

Kurt stood, nodding. "Alright. Let's get this done and over with. Clean up time."

* * *

Mike stood up from the stroller he'd been assembling and looked over to where Blaine was shaking a bottle for Julian. "The instruction manual says that your car seat is supposed to just snap into the sides of this."

"I left it over by the door." Blaine nodded toward the seat with his head, before he sighed with frustration. "This new formula is good for getting the baby to not throw up everywhere, but it's a pain in the ass to mix."

"Builds your arm muscles." Mike joked, moving to grab it and try putting the seat into the stroller. "Matches perfectly. This had to be planned."

"I'm pretty sure it was. I bet you anything that Miriam or one of her minions registered someplace for me. The seat is hers, so she knows what would match up with it." Blaine explained, setting the bottle down on the coffee table to scoop Julian up out of the playpen. "Hey guy!"

Mike stood back, a proud look on his face at the whole assembled travel set, as if it was something much more complicated to put together than it had proved to be. "Finished!"

"Yeah. Just wait until I need help putting together nursery furniture." Blaine drawled grabbing one of his new burp clothes to wipe a bit of drool from the corner of Julian's mouth. "Just let me get him fed and then we can introduce him to the wonders of video games."

Mike laughed, sinking back to sit on the couch. "That is our duty." Mike watched the baby quietly as Blaine settled down to sit beside him, offering the bottle out to the baby. "So, Kurt seems awfully friendly around you."

"And that's all it is. Friendly conversation." Blaine replied far too quickly.

"Tina doesn't think that's the way either of you really feel. She's usually pretty good at observing all of that." Mike grabbed the TV remote, flipping it on without asking, turning it to a baseball game as he waited.

"Tina needs to make sure she's not going to meddle in things that aren't her business." Blaine replied, his tone slightly defensive. "I need to get this raising a child thing down before I bring anyone else into the mix. If I dated Kurt, I wouldn't want to keep it casual. He's really great, and I'm a bit petrified that some other guy is going to realize that before I get my life back together, but I can't change this. I wouldn't want to at this point. I'm far too deep in Julian's charms, even after a week. I never realized I could fall in love so quickly with someone so tiny." He paused, leaning down to press a kiss to the baby's forehead.

"That's great for you. Really." Mike insisted, turning to look toward his friend. "I just want to see you happy. It's been far too long since that last jerk."

"It has been. But I can't inch my way back into dating and jump head first into fatherhood in unison." Blaine kept his eyes down on the baby. "Maybe it's better this way. If we can become good friends first, maybe it will be easier to really trust a new relationship. Anyway. Can we talk about something else? I can't believe that the Blue Jays are beating the Yankees."

Mike accepted that desire to not talk about it anymore, letting himself be distracted by the game. "I know. And by three runs, too." Either way, he had plenty to report back to Tina later when she asked, because he was sure she'd grill him on it under the promise of secrecy and marital discretion.

7


	8. Chapter 8

Tuesday night found Kurt back over at Blaine's house, Thai takeout in hand. "I know that you'd probably prefer to get out of the house, but I really need to measure the nursery. It's time to get Jules a room of his own." Kurt had wheedled over the phone. Blaine had quickly agreed, because really, who was he to argue with Kurt's begging? Thus, an hour later they were sitting in the living room of Blaine's townhouse dinner in hand.

Blaine tucked his fork into his bowl of noodles, twirling some around it. "Having you over was still welcome today, by the way, not only because you're planning on giving the little guy a great room to grow up in, but because I've already managed to get out of the house. We broke in the stroller this afternoon."

"Oh? Did you go for a walk?" Kurt asked, between bites of his own green curry.

Blaine shook his head. "I'd been dieing to check in on how my drama students were doing. So I went to their play rehearsal. I probably interrupted with everyone in the whole place, or so it felt like, stopping by to get a look at my son more than I helped out though."

"Your son?" Kurt raised his eyebrows at that bit of the story. "I don't think I've heard you call Jules that before."

"I'm trying to get used to saying it." Blaine admitted, dropping his fork to rub sheepishly at the back of his neck. "The more I say it the more natural it will sound, right?" He looked over to where Julian was sitting in a brand new baby swing, sucking on the nose of a baby safe stuffed animal. "I had a long talk with Cooper this weekend, in public so that I couldn't commit murder. He told me in no uncertain terms that he thinks of Julian as mine. That he thinks of Julian as my son."

Kurt nodded slowly. "He really is, in a huge way. Being a dad is about far more than just who the sperm came from. Are you comfortable with the label?"

"I want to be. I'm not sure I'm there yet, but I'm looking forward to the day when I can introduce Julian as my son and have it feel completely natural."

"You'll get there. Look how far you've come in a week and a half." Kurt gestured around the room, gaze focused for a moment on the happy baby. "Now, down to business. What do you have in mind for his nursery?"

Blaine paused, taking a moment to consider that. "I want something whimsical, but I don't want it to be horribly over the top. I want something fun. Something that's all little boy without feeling like I've walked into a hunting lodge."

"No hunting lodge motif. Damn. You're ruining all my plans, Mr. Anderson." Kurt just laughed at the crinkle nosed look he got from Blaine in return for the teasing. "I actually have a sample of some fabric I thought might work. I mean, we could find a bedding set to buy, but it wouldn't take me that long to sew at least the basic pieces, and then we'd have more control over everything."

"We?" Blaine teased back. "You're going to listen to my humble input? I can't believe you've already gone out looking for fabric samples."

"As much as I hate to burst your bubble, it more fell into my lap. I was at one of my new favorite fabric stores looking for the right shade of satin for a dress I'm constructing for work when I ventured off course and happened upon this." Kurt put his plate down on the end table, moving to grab his messenger bag. He pulled a small square of fabric from behind the sketch book inside. "What do you think?" Kurt asked as he passed it over. "And yes, you get a small amount of input. The rest is up to me because, well, I want it to be a surprise.

"I hate surprises, or at least waiting on them." Blaine commented before he saw the fabric and held in a squeal as he grinned down at it. It was an argyle, in various shades of blue, green, and orange, alongside diamonds of white. Inside many of the white diamonds were a little boy's dream: cartoon drawings of cars, trucks, and airplanes. "This is great! I'm definitely a fan of all things argyle, but I love how it intermixes more traditional baby boy elements alongside it. Would this be for the bedding?"

Kurt nodded. "I was thinking of sewing up a couple quick sheets of this, and then using bits of it in other elements alongside some less busy patterns that pull out the colors of this fabric." Kurt reached out to take the fabric back when it was offered. "I found simple directions online for making a very clean lined crib skirt and a couple of variations of little baby quilts to choose from. That and some curtains, or maybe just a valance, should round out the textiles."

"I will leave the planning in your hands, no matter how much I'll want to peek through the door instead of being surprised. I wish I could give you more of a budget to work from, but of course all this had to happen right after I bought a whole townhome." Blaine whined lightly.

"Well, would it have been better if you'd still been at Mike and Tina's? Imagine their reaction to him crying all night long those first few nights. Or our makeup artist's reaction to what Tina would have looked like after those nights. I'm pretty sure her character wasn't supposed to be sporting dark circles with what was being filmed last week." Kurt joked, lightening the mood right back up. "And I can make your budget work, I'm sure. I'm a master at finding interesting pieces for a price that doesn't bust the back. You should have seen my loft back in college. It was quite well appointed for our starving college student bank accounts. And I will promise you that I may have lived with my friends Rachel and Santana, but they were not allowed to do any of the decorating whatsoever."

"So I should just relax and trust you?" Blaine teased over as he finished off his food.

"Exactly. I think that is a good mantra for life. Just trust Kurt." Kurt teased right back, setting the fabric sample on the end table.

"Trust." Blaine grew serious as he gave a soft sigh. "There's not very many people I trust completely, Kurt."

Kurt turned in his chair so that he was facing Blaine. "I'm trying to decide whether our friendship is strong enough for me to ask you why or not." Kurt admitted softly.

"I'd like to think that it's getting to be pretty dang strong, despite how little time I've known you." Blaine replied. He looked down at his bare feet as he continued. "I don't like talking about it in general though, but I think you need to know, if we're going to be good friends or someday more than that. I suppose it started with my parents. I couldn't always trust them to follow through on their promises. And then, well, I had some bad experiences to start high school. Top it off with the reason I ended up moving in with Mike and Tina, and I'm always fighting against being too guarded. Sometimes I think that people just see the person I try to project, not who I really am."

"Since we've established that our friendship has gone far enough for the asking of invasive questions, why did you move in with Mike and Tina? I'd always just assumed it was a budget thing. I definitely had roommates for that reason in and right out of college." Kurt pointed out.

"Well, it was for financial reasons, but there was more to it." Blaine shifted in his seat as he turned himself to bravely look up and over to Kurt. "I feel like I've always had the worst taste in men, present company excluded." He hoped. "My high school boyfriend turned out to be more interested in sex than the relationship I thought he wanted. It had rather gone downhill from there. I met a boy in class my junior year of college, and I thought my luck had changed. I really thought he was going to be forever. We'd been together almost two years when we both graduated, so it seemed only logical to find an apartment together, and we lasted two more. I'd started to really talk seriously with him about getting engaged, when I came home early one day to find he had man in our bed. It was completely a stereotypical movie moment, except we didn't get into a fistfight or anything. I just walked out of the house and drove straight to Mike's."

Kurt reached out over the distance to rest his hand on Blaine's leg. "I'm sorry. The man must have been a complete and utter idiot to cheat on _you_."

Blaine choked out a laugh. "That's exactly what Tina said. I don't- I don't know how much to believe that or what to really believe about any of it. It's hard to think that my judgment is so bad that I had no idea that he was doing any of that, but it's never been very good. Anyway, I couldn't, or at least wouldn't, go back to him. Tina and Mike had been talking about finding a roommate to take some stress off their budget. That part worked out at least, though I've sometimes wondered if they really were looking for a roommate or if they were just trying to make me feel better by telling me that."

"Whether they were looking for one or not, I get that sharing the rent was helpful." Kurt pointed out. "That was before Tina found her current role, right? Starving artists have to band together, even with young teachers."

"As if young teachers are horrible torture to live with?" Blaine cracked a smile. "I am sure that part is true, that it helped all of us, even if they hadn't planned on it. Alright. Food is done, and that's enough depressing talk for the night. Why don't we go look at my spare room? I've gotten almost all of the boxes that were living in there moved out and unpacked, which I promise has been quite a feat around taking care of the rascal."

"You're just going to use him as an excuse for anything you might not have finished, aren't you?" Kurt teased, standing and tucking his hands into his back pockets. "Go right ahead. Lead the way."

* * *

On Saturday morning, Kurt was back in the same set of older clothes he'd used to repaint Blaine's cabinets. He was right back at Blaine's house, with his friend banished to the downstairs under strict instructions to stay out of Julian's room at all costs until Kurt granted him admission.

Mike had classes to teach at his studio before he could come to help, which left Tina and Kurt to get the first coat of paint on the scuffed walls. "Three of these are going to stay a neutral color, but I just couldn't leave them in this condition." Kurt noted, touching the grey scuff mark where a dresser must have rubbed against the wall for years.

"I agree." Tina said as she turned to look over to the paint cans sitting on top of a drop cloth. "What colors are we using?"

"We've got two." Kurt moved to pop the lid on both cans. "This one is for three of the walls." He said of a light caramel tone. "And this is for the wall with the window, and maybe the inside of the closet if we get adventurous." The second can contained a vibrant but lighter shade of blue. "I found a fun, not too expensive dresser yesterday at Ikea that has this shade in it. It's a good match for the bedding, too, but I assumed he'd have the dresser well into elementary school. He'd better grow out of the crib before then."

"I would hope so." Tina replied moving forward to look at the paint. "I like that shade of blue. Very baby boy."

"That's what Blaine wanted." Kurt joked, as he poured some of the blue into a roller tray. "Seems he has one of those hanging around somewhere."

"I did hear something like that." Tina replied, grabbing a roll of blue tape to start taping off the baseboards and door frames. "So, are you regretting your move to L.A. yet?"

"Should I be?" Kurt turned for a moment to look over to Tina. "I'm definitely not regretting taking the job. I like it a lot. I didn't think I'd be lured away from the stage so easily, but as a costumer, it's a lot of fun to have access to a continually changing wardrobe, verse one that is mostly stuck in repairs and keeping it clean and in good shape once a play opens."

"I am glad to have you at work with me." Tina squatted down to start with the section Kurt seemed intent to paint first. "And I'm glad you're happy there, Kurt. I wasn't sure how you would enjoy the change in medium."

"I wasn't either. Honestly, as an actor, I think I'd much prefer the stage. I'd miss the connection you have with the audience in a live show. For TV, you can always go back and shoot things again, which is great in its own way, but you lose out on the immediate reaction an audience brings." Kurt moved over the section Tina had taped off to start rolling on the first coat, careful to stay over the drop cloth.

"That is true. I do miss being on stage sometimes." Tina replied as she worked. "But after an initial adjustment, I like being in front of the camera. I like the ability to move from script to script instead of repeating the same lines every night and to watch a story go from a script into a final show with sound and special effects. Most of all, though? It's just nice to have a job that pays the bills without worry."

Kurt laughed at that with a fervent nod. "I agree. A paycheck is a very nice thing to have. When did we get to be such adults?"

"Apparently somewhere in your twenties that is supposed to happen." She retorted. "I suppose that graduating college and getting married were big steps in that direction for me." Tina changed the subject as she moved to tape around the closet door. "What besides painting is on the list for today?"

"I was hoping to get the dresser and bookshelf I picked out put together." Kurt said as he moved back to put more paint on the roller. "At some point, either today or tomorrow after his church, Blaine and I have a trip planned to Babies 'R Us to pick out a crib and changing table and use up all of the gift cards he got for there at his shower. You'd be welcome to tag along, I'm sure."

"If I bring Mike, we could make it a double date." Tina teased. "That sounds reasonable enough."

Kurt just turned to arch his eyebrows over at Tina at the first comment, otherwise he ignored it. "Have you sewn much since Glee club costumes?"

"A few times, mostly to make nerdy Halloween costumes and such for Mike and Blaine. Last year, it was Batman and Robin."

"No gay undertones there." Kurt said dryly before turning to consider Tina. "I could use some help getting the bedding for here finished. It's no good to have a crib if there are no linens to put on it."

"You're hand making them?" Tina asked curiously.

"I am. It seemed such a waste to spend so much money on a set, when I could make something adorable." Kurt shrugged. "I'm not sure I ended up saving any actual money in the end, but at least they're exactly the way I want them to be. Blaine saw the main fabric and approved it, so he knows that much, and only that much, about the room."

"You're enjoying keeping him in the dark about this aren't you?" Tina grinned over.

Kurt grinned a smirk of a grin back. "Maybe. Maybe a little bit too much. I think it might just kill him not to know, despite the fact I hoped to have it finished this weekend. What is he like on Christmas?"

Tina covered a laugh with her hand. "You'll have to experience it to believe it." She insisted.

"I suppose I will. I might decide to go back to Ohio to see my dad for Christmas, though." Kurt stepped back to look at the paint on the wall that becoming blue. "That's one downside of living out here in California. When he was in D.C., the trip back and forth to New York wasn't too bad. Now I'll see him less."

"If you're anywhere nearly as close as you were in high school, I know you'll stay in contact with him anyway." Tina pointed out.

"You're right." He admitted before Kurt grinned over. "Do you have your phone on you? I think this painting party might just need the two of us singing along to some Gaga or some other equally fabulous music."

Tina put the tape down to pull her phone out of her pocket. "Of course I do." She scrolled through to find exactly what she wanted on the screen. "Alright. This playlist should be more than peppy enough to feed our painting."

* * *

Crib shopping had indeed been delayed until lunch on Sunday. In the end, Tina had begged off to spend some time with her husband, promising to at least send Mike over later to help with constructing whatever they bought.

Kurt spotted Blaine up at the entrance of the store pushing a bright red stroller. At least the color of it made Blaine hard to miss. "Looking for someone?" Kurt asked playfully as he slid up beside his friend.

"Indeed I am." Blaine teased with a flirty tone to his voice. "He's about yay tall with the most gorgeous blue eyes that I've ever seen."

"Hmm." Kurt flushed. "I may have seen someone who fits at least part of that description somewhere around here." He glanced down into the car seat snapped into the stroller unable not to return the smile Julian gave him. "And here I thought we were staying firmly in the friend zone."

"We are. Right?" Blaine sighed whistfully. "Doesn't mean that always works in my head. Especially when you show up wearing a shirt that pulls out all the blue in your eyes and pants like those."

"Sorry. I'll make sure to wear a burlap sack around you in the future." Kurt rolled his eyes. "Come on. Let's go see what we can find inside."

Blaine stopped when they got inside the door, eyes wide. "Wow. Where do we start in here?"

Kurt glanced around for a moment as well. "By walking down the aisle. Let's find the furniture section first. Once we've got the main goal accomplished, we can see if we need to attack any of these other racks."

"Attack? Really?" Blaine laughed as he pushed the baby forward. "There. I can see cribs off in the distance." He said, prompting his own roll of the eyes from Kurt. "The only problem here is that other than the fabric bit, I have no idea what we're trying to match."

"That's why you have me here. And no, I'm telling you about the rest of it." At the puppy dog eyes Blaine gave him, Kurt added, "No matter how much you beg."

"Please?" Blaine begged dramatically to tease his friend. "Oh, alright. So I'm just along for the ride?"

"And the chance to get out of the house. Plus, I wanted your opinion on something at the end. But first, cribs. See anything you like?" Kurt asked as he surveyed the yards of baby furniture.

Blaine pushed the stroller forward once more, moving toward a crib that had clean, simple lines. "I like the simplicity of this one."

Kurt looked it over from different angles, nodding. "I like the modern edge it has." He turned to look at the other furniture paired with it with a grimace. "I kind of detest this changing table, though. It looks like it came from the bad kind of thrift store."

Blaine shrugged. "It's not that bad. Not my favorite changing table, but it's not horrible. Could we mix and match? Use that crib but a different changing table?"

"That's an option. Let's keep looking, and we can come back to it if we don't find a better one." Kurt glanced around the section looking for another possiblity to check out with a smile stuck on his face. "I'm seeing another reason I love L.A., though I'm sure New York would be just as good on this note, but have you noticed that no one has given us a weird look yet for being two men pushing a stroller?"

Blaine nodded, but he kept any mention of liking the way they all looked together, like they were a family, to himself after the response his earlier comment about Kurt's eyes had gotten him. "I didn't, but I'm glad it wasn't something that I even needed to think about. Julian is going to have enough reasons in his life to feel different. I don't want who I am to be a big one of those." He reached down, to tickle Julian's stomach, getting a big drool-y laugh out of the baby.

Kurt responded to that with a simple nod as he was distracted by another crib. "Ooh! This one would fit so well with the furniture I've already chosen." He ran his hand around the swooping curve of wood at the front of the crib.

"I did tell you to make it whimsical didn't I?" Blaine pulled his hand away to step back from the stroller and take in all of the crib Kurt was looking at. "I do like that. It's no too ornate, but it's fun. It has more flair than the first one."

"And who would want Julian to have a boring room?" Kurt joked turning to take in the changing table sitting nearby. "Hmm. We could work with that."

"That's high praise, coming from you." Blaine said dryly moving back to check on Julian.

Kurt stepped up to the stroller, reaching in to unstrap the baby and hold him up awkwardly. "What do you think, Jules? Would you sleep for your uncle in there?"

"Are you planning to translate baby into normal English?" Blaine teased, in large part to hide his inner pleasure at seeing Kurt picking up Julian of his own volition.

"I'm taking a smile as yes and sobbing tears as a no." Kurt replied turning the baby to see a content look. "I think that's at least an okay."

"I'll take it." Blaine responded. "Hey, how about this changing table?" He walked over to the next display finding one that had the same swooping lines as the crib.

"Done. Perfect." Kurt pulled the baby in closer to him, tucking the little guy up against his side. "One last thing, an experiment."

"Experiment?" Blaine asked curiously.

"How do you feel about rocking chairs?" Kurt asked right back. "I've been considering one for your nursery, but only if you'd actually use it. I thought maybe we could try one out here. See how Julian reacts to it."

"I think that sounds like it's at least worth the five minutes of an experiment." Blaine replied, pushing the stroller toward a small land of gliders. He sank into a white one with a chocolate colored cushion. "This is comfortable, at least." He commented, tucking his feet up on the ottoman.

"Well, I'm glad we found a good spot for you to sit back and relax." Kurt drawled, offering the baby awkwardly over.

Blaine took Julian with much more ease than he would have two weeks before to cradle the baby in his arms. "Let's see how he feels about this." Blaine pulled a foot down, using it to rock the chair. "Nice and smooth." He glanced down at the baby who let out a big yawn, curling himself in toward Blaine's body. "I think this is a winner."

* * *

With Mike's help, Kurt got the new nursery furniture put together and moved into place fairly quickly. He finished adjusting the bedding Tina had helped him finish sewing the evening before and then stepped back. It was all ready to bring Blaine up.

"Do I have to cover my eyes?" Blaine teased as he made his way up the stairs with Julian snuggled up against his chest.

"Yes. That sounds perfectly safe while you're holding a baby." Kurt replied dryly with a roll of his eyes. He did open the door with a flourish, though. "Come on in."

Blaine stepped just into the doorway to stare around. "Wow. Kurt, I love it!"

"I was hoping you would." Kurt's tone went soft. "A cute nursery is as much for you to enjoy as it is for Julian, at least at this point."

Blaine ran his hand along the top of the dresser. It was a playful piece, with the chunky body made out of darker blue wood and drawers the same lighter blue shade as the accent wall. "This is so very cute! Oh! And look at that little table and the tiny chairs!"

Kurt grinned with amusement as he watched Blaine move to the toddler sized table that awaited future use sitting in one corner, the walls around it surrounded by bins for toys and a chunky blue bookshelf that matched the dresser and the table set. Kurt had transfered the handful of books Blaine had been given at the shower to it already. "I'm so glad you like it. Really. But let me take the baby before you drop him out of excitement." Kurt teased.

Blaine offered Julian over even though he rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to drop him. I just - this is everything I could want in a room for him. It's cute: a good mixture of a little bit preppy and a whole lot of fun."

"Good. You explore. Jules and I are just going to try out this rocking chair." Kurt sank down into the glider, settling Julian into the crook of his elbow.

Blaine slid open the closet door as he followed directions and went to explore, doing his very best to push aside the way seeing Kurt snuggling up to Julian just made his heart melt that much more. "You painted the inside?"

"Well, Tina did, but I suggested it. So I'll take credit, but only if you like it." Kurt said as he his eyes down to watch the baby snuggle up against him, tilting his head in to rest his cheek against Kurt's shirt. This might even be worth any drool marks Julian would leave.

"I do. It's a fun little bit of flair." Blaine turned to look around the room. "I'll have to buy Mike and Tina each a drink, if I ever manage to get back out with them again."

"Ever?" Kurt laughed. "Did you know that there's this wonderful thing that exists? It's called a babysitter. I'm sure you'll get the chance to go out with them again at some point before Jules turns eighteen."

"I'm sure you're right." Blaine stepped closer to sink down and sit on the ottoman that had come with the rocking chair. "I'd almost rather use those babysitting nights to go out with you."

Kurt raised his eyebrows as he stared over. "Are you trying to push all the bounds of our 'we're just friends' relationship today? Because it keeps coming up. Which isn't making it all that easy on me, Blaine. I'm trying to keep my thoughts pure and my heart from pattering out of my chest. You aren't helping."

Blaine gave a little smile over and shrugged. "What if I don't want to help?"

"Is torture really your thing? Because I think this is something I should know before our re- our friendship goes any further." Kurt responded dryly.

"It never really has been before, but maybe you're just bringing out new sides of me." Blaine stared over to Kurt for a minute before he shook his head. "I need- I don't want to do this anymore." At the scared look that flashed over Kurt's face, Blaine quickly clarified his feelings. "We might need to take things slowly still, but I can't pretend any longer that I don't have feelings for you."

Kurt took a moment to close his eyes and take a deep breath. Or five. "I don't want to keep trying to pretend that I don't have feelings for you either. The more time we spend together, the more sure I am that I want to give this relationship a try. But are you sure that you are ready for that try to be now? It's only been two weeks."

"Has it only been two weeks? I swear that it feels like two months." Blaine mused. "But yes. I'm sure. Totally and completely sure. I want to be able to call you my boyfriend. I want to finally have a relationship with someone who can prove themselves worthy of my trust. I've made some horrible decisions in who I've dated before. I'll admit that, but I think the fact that you have Tina and Mike's seal of approval means I'm not screwing it up this time."

"I'll do whatever I can to prove to you that you aren't." Kurt replied. "We can take this slowly. I'll agree to that. I know that it might be hard to get out on a lot of dates just the two of us, even after you find a babysitter, but I also love what we've been doing. Even when we decided not to date, we've spent a lot of time together. If instead of going out to a fancy dinner, I get to come over with takeout and cuddle with you on the couch? Or put Julian in his stroller and go on a long walk together? I never thought that would sound so amazingly good. Does that make me old?"

"A grownup maybe, but not old." Blaine scooted closer to the edge of the ottoman, letting his knees touch against Kurt's. "Unless you think I'm ancient as well. With a kid of my own and the thought of cuddling on the couch being enough to make me melt inside."

"Well, as long as it doesn't bring about wrinkles…." Kurt couldn't resist smiling over. "Boyfriends. I like that word."

"Me, too." Blaine leaned in to press a soft kiss to Kurt's lips. After a moment he moved to deepen the kiss only to pull back with a laugh when Julian let out a little unhappy noise. "Getting in the way of my moves already."

Kurt leaned forward to press a peck to Blaine's lips despite the baby unhappy at being caught in between them. "One good thing about small children. Early bedtimes."

"True, true. Speaking of which, how about we table this for the moment so that I can get Julian fed, changed, and into bed. Then we can regroup on the couch for some of that cuddling?" And making out like a couple of high schoolers, Blaine hoped but didn't venture to say out loud.

"I approve of that idea." Kurt passed the baby over and then stood. "Can I have access to your movie collection? I'll pick out something for us to pretend to watch." The wink he gave Blaine on the way past was a very good indication that they were on the exact same page about what would really happen during that movie.

**A/N: For anyone who wants a visual for the nursery, I am going to upload some pictures of things that inspired it on my tumblr ( Tonks42 ). Between searching for that and what I've been researching for the reversebang piece I'm writing, my browser history is probably pretty interesting right now.**


	9. Chapter 9

Kurt jumped at the sound of his phone ringing. He'd been so tuned in to the marathon of old Project Runway episodes on his television that he'd almost forgotten he wasn't one of the designers himself.

Kurt reached over to grab his phone off the end table; his heart beating faster as he saw who it was. An unexpected phone call from his dad could be a wonderful thing or horrible news. "Hey, Dad." He greeted as he accepted the call.

"Good afternoon, kiddo." Burt replied before adding, "It is afternoon there, right?"

Kurt glanced over at the clock on the wall before he responded. "It's one o'clock. That counts. How's D.C.? Or are you in Lima right now?" His heart rate faded back to normal. If there had been something wrong, his father wouldn't have sounded so casual in greeting him. It almost made up for still being called kiddo at his age.

"D.C., but not for much longer. I'm sitting in the airport right now. It will be good to get home to Carole tonight."

Kurt grinned as he grabbed the remote to turn the T.V. off. "Ah, I get it. Talking to me is the way you're amusing yourself while you wait. Is your flight delayed?"

"Only an hour." Burt admitted. "And I can't just want to catch up with my son? Find out how things are going for him now that he's moved to the other side of the country?"

"Of course you can. You're just the most likely to when you're suddenly faced with extra time to sit around." Kurt turned sideways on the couch, tucking his bare feet up beside him. Over the years the number of phone calls he made to his father had tapered off some, but they were still close enough to talk regularly.

"I see how you treat your old man." Burt rumbled, hiding laughter. "And you didn't answer my question. How has Los Angeles been treating you?"

"Really well." Kurt admitted. "I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far it hasn't, not really. My job is turning out to be even better than I thought it would be. I get to dress people up for a living, after all."

"Good. I know you'd rather be performing, but I'm glad you found something you enjoy. That's what a parent truly wants for their child."

Kurt nodded, even though he knew his father wasn't there to see it. "I know, Dad. You've said it often enough." Kurt paused with a sigh. "I'm not sure I would rather be performing, honestly. Well, performing, maybe, but I couldn't keep auditioning. I couldn't take what rejection after rejection was doing to my self-esteem anymore."

"I know." Kurt had talked through the whole issue with his father the Christmas before. "How are things going outside of work?"

"Good! I love the apartment we found. The space is pretty perfect for me, so nice to have just the right amount of elbow room. Do you remember Tina and Mike from McKinley?"

"The Asian kids from your glee club?" Burt asked after a moment to think.

"That would be them. Tina is one of the actresses on the show I work on." Kurt said, unsure of if he'd told his father that before. "So we've reconnected. I've been spending a good chunk of my time outside of work with them and a friend they introduced me to, Blaine."

"Blaine, huh? Someone special?" Leave it to his father to catch the tone in Kurt's voice that came out at just thinking about Blaine.

"Maybe. I hope so." Kurt admitted to his dad.

"A boyfriend?" Burt pushed.

"Sort of. I mean, yes."

"You don't sound so sure of that." Burt pointed out before he pressed even further. "Is there something holding you back? Something wrong with the relationship?"

"There's nothing wrong with Blaine." Kurt said quickly before he just sighed. "It's just a little bit complicated. For one thing, he sort of has a son, and it's just very new."

"Sort of? How are you sort of a dad?" Kurt could hear the displeasure in his father's voice.

"He took custody of his nephew a couple of weeks ago." Kurt said. He needed to clear it up. It just felt important that his father not disapprove of Blaine before he even met him. "Julian's just a baby, so if Blaine raises him, and it looks like that's going to happen, he'll really be Blaine's son. But it's made things complicated for the two of us. We'd just been moving toward dating when he got custody. Now that he's had enough time to feel like his head is above water, we're going to try again."

"Ah. Are you ready for that? Because I know you, Kurt. You're not going to want to keep things casual. Are you ready to step in and help him raise that little boy if everything goes well between you?" Burt asked.

"I am. It terrifies me more than a little bit. If you had asked me the first night I got to Blaine's house only to find that he had a baby with him that I knew nothing about, and that it turned out he hadn't either until that morning, I would have said no. An eight year old maybe, but not a three month old. But I've spent more time with the two of them, and well, Jules and I are bonding at our own pace." Kurt paused for a moment, letting his eyes slide shut as he admitted, "And Blaine's just plain worth it. We just click in a way that I haven't clicked with anyone in a long time. Maybe ever."

"Then I'm happy for you, kid. Do you have a picture of either of them? You know that Carole is going to be asking me for one as soon as she knows."

"I don- Wait. I do have one." Which obviously meant he needed to take more. Kurt pulled the phone away from his ears to find the shot he'd taken of Blaine stretched out on his recliner with a sleeping baby on his chest and send it off to Burt's phone.

Burt's laughter sounded through the phone as he looked down at the picture Kurt had sent. "The next time you're home, I have a picture I'll have to find for you. Your mother took one when you were probably about that age asleep on me in the same position."

Kurt smiled, looking down at the picture on his phone. He considered setting it as the background on his phone for a moment before he shook his head. He could do that later. His dad was waiting now. "I'll look forward to seeing it."

"Carole did want me to talk to you about that. You know how she likes to make plans in advance?" Kurt made an affirmative noise that prompted his dad to continue. "She's already thinking about the holidays."

"It's barely August." Kurt pointed out, humor showing through in his tone. "What does she want to know? I might be able to answer already."

"She wanted to know if you were planning to come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. She's pushing for us to come join you for one of them. Going to California in the winter is probably at least a small part of that plan." Burt replied with an equal amount of amusement.

"You know that I would love to either or both of you out here at any point." Kurt replied quickly before he had to pause to think. "I do want to come home at some point this year. I can't guarantee it yet, but I think Christmas would be better for me to travel. We'll have a longer hiatus from the show for Christmas than we will for Thanksgiving."

"Then Carole and I will look into coming out for Thanksgiving. If you are still with him that many months from now, I fully expect to meet Blaine and that baby of his, if they're in town."

"I definitely would try to arrange that. I'm sure Carole would be hard pressed to spend any time with a baby, for one thing." Kurt said dryly.

"I'm sure she would spend as much time as she could fawning over him and attempting to spoil the boy." Burt replied fondly. "Oh. They're finally starting to board my flight. I should let you go. I would assume that Carole may be calling you later, hounding you for details."

Kurt laughed. "I'll look forward to it. Go catch your flight." He paused for a moment before he added, "I'm glad you called, Dad. I love you."

"I love you, too, Kurt. Take care of yourself." Burt hung up the phone, and Kurt leaned back against the couch cushions. There was something about talking to his father that just put everything into the right perspective.

* * *

It was only a few hours after his conversation with his father that Kurt found himself sitting across a restaurant table from Blaine. They'd been talking all week about making another attempt at a second date, but Kurt was still a little bit shocked when they made it out of the door without too much issue. But since they'd sat down at an Italian restaurant not far from Blaine's place, the other man must have checked his phone at least twenty times.

The next time Blaine reached for his cell, Kurt reached out, resting his hand on top of Blaine's. "Do you trust Tina and Mike?"

Blaine blinked back in surprise. "What?"

"Do you trust Tina and Mike?" Kurt echoed.

"Of course." Blaine responded quickly.

"Then stop checking to see if they've sent a 'rescue me' message, or whatever it is you're looking for." Kurt teased dryly before he continued more seriously. "Julian is fine. Tina and Mike are fine. Be here with me tonight. Please?"

Blaine blinked over before he ran his hand up over his face. "Oh God. I have been more focused on my phone than you, huh? I just- This is the first time I've left Julian with anyone. I didn't think it would be this hard. I do trust them to watch him for a couple hours, but I still can't help but worry."

"I guess that's what parents do, isn't it?" Kurt said, tilting his head to look over to Blaine considering something. "Put your phone on the table, face up."

Blaine complied, but he gave Kurt a confused look. "Why am I doing this? Won't I just want to stare at it more?"

"Maybe. Or maybe you'll just be able to focus on other things. Now it's where you can check it in two seconds. There's no way you'd miss a call or text with it out between us. Just don't spill your pasta sauce on it when the food gets here." Kurt brought the teasing tone back.

Blaine sighed dramatically. "That would be just my luck. So let's focus on date topics. I'm glad we found this restaurant. I didn't move that far, but it's nice to find new neighborhood hole in the walls."

"It reminds me a little bit of a place in my hometown. Although if the bread we started with is any indication, the food will be much better." Kurt paused his tone sinking again from playful to serious. "It's kind of nice actually. Everyone in high school took people there on dates. It always stung that I never had anyone to take. Going to Breadstix with my family or friends just wasn't the same as being able to take a date. This feels like a bit of redemption, ten years later, to be sitting in an Italian restaurant across from a gorgeous man."

"Well, I'm glad I could make your teenage dream come true." Blaine rested his head on his fist to stare across at Kurt for a moment with a soft smile. "There's a song about that, you know. If we weren't in such a public place, or if I weren't so darn old, I'd serenade you with it right now."

"If you're old, does that make me decrepit?" Kurt asked teasingly before he just gave Blaine a smile in return. "I'll let you serenade me later in private then or the next time we end up at a karaoke bar, but I will hold you to it. I do expect grand romantic gestures, like songs, after all."

"Grand romantic gestures, huh? Gosh, don't put any pressure on me." Blaine teased right back. "You never know what kind of horrible things my mind might come up with on that front. I did once convince a bunch of my friends to help me serenade a crush in a Gap."

"A Gap? Did security come and kick you out?" Kurt asked with his tone full of laughter. "Please tell me this was in the days of your youth and not last week."

"No, definitely not last week. Last week my mind was full of you. Why would I have been serenading anyone else?" Blaine pointed out. "No, no. This was in high school. Which means it was not only a Gap, it was a Gap in a mall in Ohio. You can imagine how well my serenading another man went there. I did avoid getting kicked out of the mall, but I still cringe every time I walk by a Gap let alone have to go in."

"So you've at least learned to keep the serenades to an appropriate venue? See how much growing up has helped you out?" Kurt leaned back as their food arrived. He grabbed his fork and started to twine bits of pasta around it. "You've learned well!"

"Yay me?" Blaine joked as he cut a piece of ravioli in half. "I don't think I've truly learned to be appropriate. I think I've just learned to make new mistakes each time."

"That seems like it would a good philosophical statement." Kurt replied. "Hmm. Other good second date topics. Where do you see yourself in five years?"

"With a five year old?" Blaine grinned over cheekily, before he stopped cold and blinked. "Oh God. In five years, I could have a kindergartner. That said, I have no other clue. Teaching at a school I'd be happy to have Julian be a kindergartner at?"

"Would that be where you are?" Kurt asked curiously. "I know just about nothing about the schools here."

"It might be. I'd never really thought too hard about having my own child at my school. He'd get a good education there no matter what because I know all the teachers. I'd be able to hand pick exactly who he should have. But I'd worry as he got older. Hell, I worry about my students as they get older. That they're going to get pregnant and drop out before they finish high school or end up joining a gang. I have so many talented students each year who come from families that are struggling to get by. I do worry about them every year when I sent see former students go off to the wide world of middle school. That's when I would worry the most about Julian, when I no longer had him at my school under my watch." Blaine paused and sighed. "Oh man. Not only am I going off on a tangent, but I'm going off on a tangent about a future down the road with Julian. So I've stopped obsessing about a phone call so I'll start obsessing about him in another way?"

"Breathe." Kurt instructed. "I find all that interesting. And I have to say that your passion? That is a total turn on for me. So feel free to ramble more often."

"Oh, you don't want to say that. I could end up rambling all day long, then. You'd never be free!" Blaine joked looking up from his food and over to Kurt. "I'll have to remember that though, for later." He winked, getting a laugh out of the other man.

"You're going to start a list to use against me?"

"I don't really know that it would be _against_ you. Wouldn't you derive some benefit from that kind of a list?" Blaine's eyes trailed over to his phone once again.

"What are you going to do when he starts daycare if you can't even leave him with Tina for an evening?" Kurt asked, tone light.

"Be miserable. Or hope that my students distract me?" Blaine shrugged. "It's officially August now. I'll have to start getting my classroom ready in a few weeks, which means I'd better actually start to look for a daycare for him."

"Coming up faster than you expected it to?" Kurt twirled more pasta onto his fork as he looked across the table at his boyfriend.

"It's amazing how some of the days, and especially a few of the nights, have felt like they'll never end, but the time is actually flying by. That reminds me, do you have plans on Friday night?"

"Other than catching up on what's on my DVR?" Kurt cocked his head to the side curiously. "I'm sure I could be enticed into something more exciting."

"I'm not sure if you'll really find this much more exciting, but would you come with me to Act Out's end of summer performance? I'm going to drag Julian in a few days this week to help them with finishing touches, but I have two tickets to go sit in the audience on Friday at seven." Blaine shrugged over with a sheepish smile. "I'm not sure that I can guarantee that it will be a masterful performance, but I'd love to have you there with me."

"Children's theater? How could I resist?" Kurt grinned back. "Count me in. It sounds like a great cause. It will be good for them to have people who aren't their parents out there cheering for them."

"Exactly! And then maybe we can go out and get dessert or something? Make it into a really classy date."

"You had me at dessert." Kurt joked back. "Although if we're going to keep this up, I'd better find myself a gym out here."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry this is late. It ended up being an extra busy weekend. I do have to give advanced warning that I probably won't be able to post next weekend. I'll be up at camp all weekend, which I'm completely excited about, but it won't be the best atmosphere for getting the chapter up. **

**Songs used in this chapter are **_**Words**_** by Hawk Nelson and **_**Somewhere Over the Rainbow**_** by Julie Garland.**

"That was better than I thought it would be." Kurt admitted, taking Blaine's hand into his own as they walked into an ice cream shoppe, one that Blaine had recommended (for its old fashioned scoops of ice cream and large variety of flavors).

"That's why I made sure to build up low expectations for you." Blaine teased leaning over to press a kiss to Kurt's cheek. "That way you couldn't help but be amazed by how good they actually were."

"Oh, sure. But really, some of those kids have actual talent. Some of them on the other hand, well, at least they had fun, but I hope a lot of them stick with it. The girl that played the lead? I swear she could be a mini version of my friend Rachel."

"Oh Lord. I hope Rachel is rather less high strung than Maria." Blaine said in an overly dramatic tone of his own.

Kurt broke out in laughter. "Probably not. I love Rachel, but she can be an acquired taste. You'll see for yourself when I lure her away from Broadway for a visit to the beach."

"Is this the woman that used to be your roommate in New York?" Blaine asked, trying to fill in the gaps.

"One and the same. I'm sure Mike and Tina could tell you any number of Rachel stories. She was yet another member of our New Directions crew. Our lead singer." Kurt glanced up to the menu, looking over his ice cream choices.

Blaine closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "Tiny thing with dark hair and a huge voice? I think I remember her from our research."

"It's still amazing to me to realize that we once stood on the same stage together, but yet it took another ten years for us to meet." Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand turning to look over at him. "Part of me wishes that we had met each other then, but part of me thinks this is perfect, so why mess it up?"

Blaine leaned in to press a quick kiss to Kurt's lips at that. "Perfect, huh? I can accept that description of this tangled mess of a summer I've had." As the family ahead of them stepped aside, cones in hand, Blaine moved up to the ice cream scooper. "Hmmm. Can I have a cone with two scoops of cookie dough? What do you want Kurt?"

Ice cream was acquired, and they settled into a table out on the patio under a string of tiny lanterns. "I suppose it will be easier to watch you eat that ice cream cone now that I'm allowed to fantasize about all the mental images it brings up." Kurt teased.

Blaine flushed, glancing down at his cone. "I'm not sure whether to play that up now or to feel horribly self conscious."

"Just enjoy as normal. I'll sit over here thinking happy thoughts." Kurt joked.

"You do that." Blaine licked self consciously at his treat. "I did have another proposition for you."

"Now that combined with the ice cream is really going to make my thoughts go in an interesting direction." Kurt grinned over in enjoyment at making Blaine blush.

"Oh God. I totally didn't think of that connotation." Blaine admitted. "I think I'm bad at this whole physical flirting thing. Of maybe this flirting thing in general."

"Or really unintentionally good." Kurt retorted before he asked, "So what was your proposition for me?"

"At the beginning of the summer, I made a reservation for a hotel room in San Diego. I was planning to go down for the weekend just to relax by myself on the beach right before school started back up."

"Well, that plan's not going to work quite as well, is it?" Kurt dug his spoon into his dish of ice cream.

"Peace and quiet? Relaxing by myself on the beach? Yeah. That's not really in the cards right now." Blaine darted his tongue out to keep a melting bit from running down the side of the cone. "I still want to go though, even if it might be crazy. If it goes really badly, then I can pack Julian back in the car and drive home. It's not all that far."

"True. It's not as if you'd be flying to the other side of the country with him. Planning to help him get his first sun tan?"

"Hah hah. No. I am planning to stock up on baby sunscreen. I was thinking about taking him on his first zoo trip though. Every four month old needs to see the pandas, right?" Blaine bit his bottom lip as he looked over to Kurt. "It's going to be a short trip, just a weekend, but I was hoping… Will you come with us?"

"You want me to go off on vacation with you?" Kurt asked over in surprise.

"It's just two nights." Blaine said before he shrugged. "Plus we'd have a built in chaperone in having Julian along." He hesitated for a second. "I know this is a big step, spending a whole weekend together, but I really would love to get away and just be us. Well, us and the baby."

"Text me the dates, and I'll see if I can wiggle into getting out early that Friday." Kurt decided after just a moment's hesitation. "I do want to spend time with you, though. I promise. San Diego isn't that long of a drive, right? So if I can't get time off, maybe I can come down on Friday night or Saturday morning?"

* * *

Getting the time off had proven to be fairly easy, especially since they had ended up deciding to leave at noon on Friday. Marjorie had simply waggled her eyebrows in a way that reminded Kurt again of Santana and told him that she expected details upon his return. That Friday afternoon had turned out to be perfect on their filming schedule. It had been a light day as far as costumes went, dressing only some of the main cast. If it had been a day with fifty extras to costume, he was sure Marjorie's opinion on road trips would have been quite different.

The drive would be about two hours, if they hit traffic well, so they'd decided to take one car. Blaine had won out on the driving, since it would have been more of a pain than it was worth to transfer Julian's car seat into Kurt's car.

The baby had turned out, so far, to be a good traveler, falling asleep almost as soon as the car started to move. "I'm so glad he'd not one of those babies who scream as soon as you buckle him into a car seat." Blaine had noted.

The first half of the trip passed quickly. They left the music on low and talked about anything and everything that came to mind. Blaine marveled, once again, at how easy it was to talk to Kurt, without fear that the other man was going to truly judge him on anything Blaine said. Affectionately rolled eyes and teasing were just to be expected, but Blaine could easily accept those.

He hadn't even noticed that he'd started humming to fill a pleasant lull in conversation until Kurt piped in.

"What song is that? It's definitely not what's on the radio."

Blaine blinked over before he turned his gaze back onto the road ahead. "Oh. Just something I was practicing this morning. For church. It must have worked into way into my head. Sorry."

"No reason to apologize for making music." Kurt said before he added curiously. "What's it for?"

"Just Sunday service next weekend. Pastor Tom is planning to do a Back to School thing. I think the focus is going to be on how we treat outsiders around us. We don't have a problem that I know of with any of our youth being bullies themselves, but everywhere in life, especially in middle and high school, it can be easier just to walk away when you see someone else getting hurt. But how is that really Christ-like?" Blaine shrugged. This was the one area he was afraid to talk too much about, not wanting Kurt to get uncomfortable. "Anyway, I know he's planning a sermon related to how we should be supporting each other, even when we're afraid. On not letting fear turn us into the silent bystander of bullying and hatred."

"That sounds… That sounds like something I wish there had been people talking about when I was growing up." Kurt turned to look out the window at the cars passing by for a moment before he asked, "What are you singing for it?"

"It's an older song by a Christian band, so I doubt you know it. It's called _Words_." Blaine offered, glancing up into the rear view mirror to check on Julian, thankful yet again for the person who had thought of making a mirror to mount on the headrest of the sedan's rear seat, so that Blaine could see Julian's sleeping face as he drove.

Kurt reached over and shut off the car stereo before he ordered with a smile, "Sing it for me?"

"You sure?" Blaine asked, waiting for Kurt's nod before he started the song.

_They've made me feel like a prisoner  
They've made me feel set free  
They've made me feel like a criminal  
Made me feel like a king_

_They've lifted my heart_  
_To places I'd never been_  
_And they've dragged me down_  
_Back to where I began_

_Words can build you up_  
_Words can break you down_  
_Start a fire in your heart or_  
_Put it out_

_Let my words be life_  
_Let my words be truth_  
_I don't wanna say a word_  
_Unless it points the world back to You_

Blaine finished the rest of the song as well before he darted a look over to Kurt, relaxing subconsciously at the smile on his boyfriend's face.

"I love listening to you sing." Kurt said simply.

"Which is good, because I tend to randomly break into song." Blaine joked.

"Ah. So you really star in your own real life musical?" Kurt teased right back.

"Exactly!" Blaine grinned out at the road. "A really awesome one."

"Uh huh. I'm sure it is." Kurt turned to stare out the window. "I honestly like a good chunk of that song. Not really hot on the religious connotations, but I get the point about how much words can affect us. That sounds like a good fit for the service you're talking about."

"Thank you. I'm glad to have your approval." Blaine said lightly before his tone got more serious. "I understand the song. There are words that I can never get out of my head. For good and for ill. And I think about it as a teacher. Am I saying things in a way that will break a student down or in a way that will build them up and challenge them when they need it."

"I haven't told you too much about why I stopped auditioning for Broadway roles, have I?"

Blaine shook his head. "I don't think so. Did something happen?" He let the concern show through in his tone.

"It wasn't just one event. It wasn't even something I shouldn't have expected. I guess it goes back to high school. I was passed over for a lot of the roles and solos I thought should be mine because I was 'too gay'." Kurt shook his head. "It hurt. Music and theater were the only spots I felt like I fit in at all, and even there who I was wasn't good enough."

"That had to suck." Blaine commiserated, eyes still on the road.

"It did. I thought I was past it when I finally started at NYADA, and there, everything was fine. There were things I excelled in and things that didn't come as easily, but overall? I think I did pretty well." Kurt glanced over to Blaine quickly before he turned to look back out at the scenery out the car window. "I started auditioning for Broadway roles when I was a sophomore, starting with auditions for company type roles. Small roles. The kind you pay your dues in. All in all, I was probably auditioning for more than five years. I did get a few tiny background roles, but I had so many more horrible auditions. I had to stop after awhile, because I realized that I'd started to see myself as the person the directors said I was, in all the worst ways. I couldn't take the constant negative feedback I was getting. It was really bringing me back to the kind of low, negative place I'd been in high school. I know people who could stand up there for horrid audition after horrid audition and push through. I wish I was that strong."

Blaine gave Kurt a quick look. "Sometimes it takes just as much strength to be able to walk away."

"Thank you. I don't know that I agree, not in this situation, but thank you." Kurt met Blaine's eyes before the other had to turn back to his attempts not to get in an accident. "Anyway, I do really love what I'm doing now. It ended up being a choice between what I could actually find success with and what was dragging me under."

"I'm selfishly glad you made the choice you did. If you were still in New York auditioning for roles, I would never have met you. I wouldn't be driving down to a hotel with a squint or you'll miss it view of the beach with you." Blaine flushed with a bit of embarrassment, afraid that he was stepping too far out on a limb. "I know we haven't been together long, but I can't imagine my world anymore without you in it."

"Me, either." Kurt blinked for a moment before he laughed, breaking some of the tension. "I suppose it would be really hard for me to imagine a world without myself in it. Wouldn't have a brain to do so. I meant that I can't imagine my life without you beside me. You and Julian. Somehow the little boy has already wormed his way into my thoughts, no matter how much I might try to deny it."

* * *

After they checked into the hotel, and changed into attire that Kurt deemed appropriate, they made their way to a public beach nearby.

"If nothing else, this whole trip'll be a good chance to try out this baby carrier." Blaine had commented.

"You're becoming such a baby things nerd." Kurt had replied affectionately. "It's like you've been given a whole new world of toys to play with."

"Exactly!" Blaine had grinned over as he snapped on the carrier, blowing a raspberry into Julian's stomach to get a flurry of giggles out of the baby before he settled him in.

A short walk later and they had found both sand and sea. Kurt settled a blanket out over the sand before setting Julian's diaper bag and his own beach bag on it. "Did you put a fresh coat of sunscreen on Julian before we left the hotel?" He asked, reaching to grab his own from his bag, rubbing it into the few parts of him exposed to the sun in his long sleeved rashguard and matching plaid board shorts.

Blaine kicked off his flip flops and sank down to sit on the blanket. "Of course I did. I lathered him up before I put him into the world's tiniest swimsuit."

"For all the swimming he'll be doing?" Kurt asked with amusement.

"Why not?" Blaine teased before he just grinned. "Or more like the small bits of water he'll feel as I'm holding him."

"Which still sounds like a big adventure for such a little guy." Kurt noted, peeking back at Julian who was watching him from inside the carrier. "He seems to like that thing."

"If that's what the absence of screaming means in a baby, yeah, I think so." Blaine glanced out toward the water. "Would you mind watching him so that I can go take enough of a dip to cool off?"

Kurt capped the sunscreen and stowed it back in his bag. "Pass him over." Kurt marveled at how quickly his attitude toward the baby had changed. He was no longer afraid to hold the infant, for one thing.

Blaine watched Kurt settle Julian down into his lap, reaching forward to dig in his beach bag for something to read. Blaine couldn't keep a fond smile off his face. There was just something about seeing his boyfriend with his nephew, no with his son, that just made Blaine's heart melt into a puddle of goo.

He forced himself to stop staring and shucked the carrier and his shirt, leaving himself in just a pair of boardshorts hanging low on his hips. He turned to stow his shirt in Julian's diaper bag and just had to grab for his phone to snap a couple of pictures of Kurt, who had started to read aloud to Julian from the latest issue of Vogue.

Julian seemed to be fairly into it, sucking on one hand as he kept turning his gaze between watching Kurt's face and the magazine, held just out of reach of tiny grasping fingers.

* * *

Kurt looked up from the magazine in time to see Blaine run out into the waves. He let the magazine fall onto his lap, content to watch this new bit of entertainment for the time being. It was turning out to be worth the risk of sunburn or freckling to watch his boyfriend playing in the waves with his shirt off. They'd been taking things slowly, a lot more slowly than Kurt had in his last few relationships, so this was about the most skin he'd ever seen Blaine show.

Maybe it was the result of bad experiences with football players and other jocks in high school, but Kurt had quickly grown out of being super attracted to muscle bound jocks, if he ever had been. Blaine? His build was perfect, in Kurt's eyes. Fit. In shape, with maybe a bit of softness around the middle, but not looking like he spent his whole life in a gym. Real.

"Your uncle is hot, and I don't know if he even realizes it." Kurt told the baby in his lap, flashing a grin at Blaine when the other man caught him looking.

* * *

An hour or so later, Blaine had taken his son back, holding the baby against his wet chest. "I know we probably can't stay too much longer. It's almost time for Julian to take a nap before dinner, but I want to take him down to the water. See if he likes it."

Kurt shook his head with amusement, tucking his magazine back into his bag. "I'm sure he'll be thrilled by it. Just don't let him drown. Something tells me that his social worker would frown upon that."

Blaine just rolled his eyes in response, before he changed tactics and stuck his tongue out, getting a laugh out of Kurt. "We'll have a good time in the water, won't we, Julian?"

In the water didn't turn out to be so literal. After a moment's contemplation, Blaine sank down into the damp sand where the waves just barely reached, settling Julian between his legs.

After initial surprise at the light kiss of water from the gentle waves, Julian was delighted by them. He let out a full on belly laugh as he clapped his hands in front of him. Blaine shared a huge smile with Kurt. There was no way to be anything but happy when the baby did that.

Kurt stepped out into the water, finally letting his legs and shorts get wet, so that he could snap pictures of Julian and of Blaine and Julian, as the baby leaned down to slap his hands into the water, still full stop giggling.

"Alright. This picture might make the whole weekend worth it." Kurt decided, making a mental note to send it to Carole later. She would have a great time cooing over Julian's, and Blaine's, cuteness with him.

* * *

After Julian's nap, and time for Kurt and Blaine to shower and change, the trio had ventured out into the Gaslight Quarter with Julian chilling out in his stroller. They stopped for dinner at a more upscale burger place and then wandered the streets until a tired baby started fussing.

Kurt had ducked into the bathroom to change while Blaine got Julian put to bed in the portable crib the hotel had provided, unsure of how far he should push the physical boundaries of their relationship. There were so many things that he wanted to do with, and to, Blaine, but he didn't want to rush into it. So many of Kurt's recent relationships had ended up being rooted in the physical. He wanted all that with Blaine, but he really wanted more. If things went the way Kurt secretly hoped they would, he'd have the whole rest of his life to explore Blaine's body. He could be patient.

Kurt's evening skin care ritual had been greatly simplified since high school, especially when he was on the road, but he still took the time to scrub his face clean and apply moisturizer, even though he'd showered off the sunscreen when they'd gotten back from the beach. A smile spread across Kurt's face as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Blaine was singing again, softly this time. He strained his ears to hear the song.

_Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue  
And the dreams that you dare to dream  
Really do come true._

Kurt listened a moment longer before he collected his toiletry kit as quietly as possible, inching the door open to step back into the hotel room. He took full advantage of the opportunity to watch Blaine sing to his nephew.

Blaine had changed Julian into a little footie sleeper in a dinosaur print, and he currently had the little boy cradled in his arms as he rocked back and forth on his toes.

_Birds fly over the rainbow  
Why then, oh why, can__'t I?_

Blaine let his voice trail off as the baby's eyes fluttered closed. He moved carefully transfer Julian into the crib, doing his very best not to wake the baby. "Please God let this work." Blaine whispered. "I've been rocking him to sleep every night the last few weeks. I suddenly found myself not sure how to get him to stop fussing and settle down."

Kurt leaned back against the frame of the bathroom door. "I think that I would settle down just as well if you sang to me like that." He teased in a soft tone.

"I'll have to remember that." Blaine commented, watching Julian for a few more seconds before he turned to his suitcase to collect his own pajamas. "My turn in the bathroom?"

While Blaine got ready in the next room, Kurt settled into one of the two queen beds, crawling beneath the comforter, pulling out his Nook to read. It wasn't that much longer that Blaine emerged, pausing to check in on the baby before he turned giving an awkward look between the two beds. "So…"

Kurt looked over at Blaine for a moment before he pushed back the top of the covers. "Come share with me?"

Blaine simply nodded. "Okay." He took the invited spot, rolling onto his side so that he faced Kurt. "I swear I didn't invite you along just so I could get you to sleep with me." He flushed a deep red. "I mean, sleep in the same bed as me."

"Well, I'd hope that's all you meant." Kurt continued quickly at the crestfallen look on Blaine's face. "I mean, the first time I _sleep_ with you, I want to be able to take our time. And I certainly don't want to have Julian in the same room. That's quite creepy, even if he's asleep."

Blaine's smile returned at that, leaning in to press a soft kiss to Kurt's lips. "I'm glad we're in full agreement on that." He noted before he admitted, "I invited you here because I wanted to have you all to myself. Man, that sounds really selfish when I say it out loud. I don't really think Julian's going to get anything out of the weekend. He's way too young for this to do anything but throw him off his schedule, but I wanted the time with both of you and nothing beyond what we choose to do as a distraction. No matter how much time we spend together, I can never get enough of having you with me."

Kurt moved closer, cuddling up to Blaine with his leg up over the other man's. "If that's selfish, then I'm just as bad since I agreed for the same reason." Kurt leaned forward that little bit to kiss Blaine. "I'm happy to take this at whatever speed you want to, physically. I'm alright with not rushing things. I don't want this to fall into the same trap my last few relationships have, where there's a lot there in the bedroom and not as much everywhere else. I want a real relationship with you in all senses of the word."

"I would never want anything else." Blaine responded, pulling his hand up to cover a yawn. "I guess only one big question remains." He said dramatically before he just grinned at Kurt's confused and worried look. "Who gets to be the little spoon?"


	11. Chapter 11

"Blaine Anderson! You're finally getting your room together? You simply must tell me about your sum-" A tall dark haired woman barreled into the classroom only to freeze when she spotted Kurt bouncing Julian in his arms. "You are not Anderson."

"Anderson?" Kurt asked with bemusement before he shook his head. "That I am not."

The woman looked him over, blinking with even more startlement at the baby in his arms. "Maybe I have the wrong classroom? Do you know if they changed Anderson's room? Fourth grade?"

Kurt shook his head giving the woman a curious look right back. "No. You're in the right place. This is definitely Blaine's classroom, but he went to the office for minute. He wanted some kind of list?"

"His class list probably. Or at least the way it stands right now. I'm sure they'll all change five more times at least before we start in a week." The woman paused a second before she offered out her hand. "I'm Amanda Gomez, one of the other fourth grade teachers."

Kurt awkwardly shifted Julian around, getting a whine of displeasure from the baby for his efforts. He managed to free his hand though, reaching out to shake hers. "Kurt Hummel. It's a pleasure to meet you. I just came in today to help Blaine out with decorating this place, and to help keep an eye on his son."

"His son?" The woman's eyes bugged out as she turned her gaze toward the baby. "_Blaine_ has a son?"

"Son, nephew, whatever. It's a long story and one I should probably let Blaine tell." Kurt leaned down to fish a pacifier out of the car seat, using it to get Julian to settle down. "There, Jules. I promise my moving you is not a horrible thing."

The woman stepped closer to look down at the baby. "He's adorable, whoever's kid he is, but I should go get back to work. Will you let Anderson know I'm here, too?"

Kurt nodded his head. "I can certainly do that."

* * *

Blaine returned just minutes later, a piece of paper in his hands. "Thirty-three so far." He commented as he looked up and over to Kurt. "Hopefully it won't go up from there. I really don't want to start the year with thirty-five or thirty-six students. Plus, I have one girl who is new to the country. I love how they always give me any and all new students from the Philippines. As if my rudimentary knowledge of Tagalog or having a Filipina mother makes me magically a better teacher for them. They don't give Gomez all the Hispanic newcomers."

Kurt just stared at Blaine for a moment, trying to make sense of all of that. "That sounds vaguely racist." He noted before he added. "Gomez. I think that's who was here. Amanda? She stuck her head in to see you, but you weren't here. I promised her that I would let you know she's in her classroom."

"Oh! Awesome. Amanda's one of the other fourth grade teachers. She's a good work friend, but we haven't had the chance to talk pretty much all summer." Blaine moved to perch on the edge of his kidney table glancing down at the list instead. "I wonder if that's Ian's little sister." He muttered to himself.

"That would explain why she was so completely shocked to see me standing here with a baby." Kurt noted glancing down to watch Julian suck happily at his pacifier. The baby had chubbed up quite a bit in the last month and a half, gaining a baby round face

"Yes. I would imagine that was rather unexpected for her." Blaine stated dryly before he glanced toward Julian. 'Would you mind watching the little guy a bit more so that I can go check in with her? She might have just wanted to say hi, but she might have some important news or info to pass along."

"Asking for my help with decoration was really just a lure to get me here so that I could keep an eye on Julian, wasn't it?" Kurt teased. "You really didn't want my input on bulletin boards or whatever it is you teacher people put up."

"Maybe." Blaine responded in a sing song tone. "Really, it was mostly about having someone to hold the other end of bigger pieces of paper or fabric. Makes it so much easier to put them up."

"Mmhmm. I see how I'm being used." Kurt replied in a laughing tone that showed he really didn't mind. "Do all of you really refer to each other by just your last name? The lady that came in called you Anderson. You called her Gomez. Is that really a thing?"

Blaine rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah? I mean, all the teachers I know do it. When we're one on one, I do call her Amanda, but around school? We do kind of refer to each other by just our last names. It drops the formality a little bit from Ms. Gomez or Mr. Anderson, but it's still easier to talk that way in front of the students."

"I already knew you all were crazy, wanting to work with large amounts of small people and all, but this just cements it." Kurt drawled before he made a small shooing gesture. "Go, go. Talk to your Gomez friend. I'll feed Julian, but you'd better be willing to come back if I text you about a poopy diaper. The Kurt Hummel babysitting service does not extend that far."

* * *

Blaine knocked on the door frame of Amanda's classroom, sticking his head around with a grin. "Gomez! I've missed you!"

"Anderson!" Blaine found himself pulled into a tight hug. "I think you have a lot of explaining to do, mister."

"Explaining?" Blaine asked with false innocence.

"You can start with that delicious looking man standing in your classroom." The other teacher said with a sly grin, moving to take a seat on the top of her kidney table. She kicked off her flip flops to tuck her bare feet up underneath her. "Or maybe the baby he was holding. You got a baby, and you didn't even freakin' tell me?"

"I have been rather busy from that last one." Blaine pointed out before he mimicked her position atop one of the desks. "Alright. Which do you want first?"

Amanda let out a hmmm sound. "The boytoy. What's the story on him?"

Blaine blushed a deep scarlet at that name for Kurt. "He's not so much a boytoy as an actual, legitimate boyfriend. His name is Kurt, and I'm completely falling head over heels for him. He's a friend of Mike and Tina, my old roommates, from when they went to high school back in Ohio. He moved here this summer and works for the wardrobe department at _Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow_. He's- He's wonderful. Thoughtful but with a biting wit. Hot. Kind. We've only been dating for oh- a little less than a month. I've known him for less than two. I feel like I'm diving in too far too fast, but I can't bring myself to care."

"Sometimes you just know when things are right." Amanda replied before she just grinned over. "I'm so happy for you, Blaine. You deserve a good guy in your life."

"And I've got two of them." At the shocked look on his fellow teacher's face, Blaine backtracked. "Not like that. I'm not delving into threesomes. I meant Julian. Kurt and the baby, both."

"Ah. Well, you have to admit, it didn't exactly sound like it. But never say I stood in the way of any consenting adults." Amanda joked. "Alright, now I've got to know. How did you mysteriously end up with a kid? Summer break isn't even three months long. That boy is at least that old."

"He's four months." Blaine admitted. "And he's my nephew. You've met Cooper, right? Didn't he hit on you in front of your husband?"

"Ah yes. Your brother is a memorable man."

"That he is. Anyway, Julian is his son. His mother died, from a drug overdose, and could you see Cooper raising a kid? It'd be a disaster." Blaine shook his head. "It was crazy at first, but I can't imagine not having Julian in my life now. I love being a - well, really it's being a father. It has its challenges, but overall? It's great."

"I'm glad you're happy." The other teacher told Blaine sincerely. "And think of all the people you'll be able to shock and surprise at the first staff meeting on Wednesday. I'm helping format the PowerPoint for it. Can I stick a picture of Julian up in the 'What I did this summer' section? Maybe make people guess who he belongs to?"

Blaine laughed. "Sure. That ought to be interesting. Let's figure out why the blue eyed white child belongs to the hapa teacher."

"I'm pretty sure that at least half the staff thinks you're a pure lily white." The woman pointed out with a wrinkled nose. "Not that that makes it any better. It'll just make for one less surprise in all of this." Amanda dropped the snarky tone to stand and pull Blaine into a hug. "I'm happy for you, Blaine. Sincerely. Do what it takes to make your little family strong, alright?"

Blaine wrapped his arms around Amanda's back with a small surprised sound. "I promise. I don't want to let anything get in the way of what we're growing."

* * *

Blaine bounced a wailing Julian in his arms, blowing out a long breath of air. "Calm down. Calm down. You're alright." He tried, to no avail.

"The rocking chair?" Blaine asked the baby, even though he wasn't expecting a response. "We could try the rocking chair." The teacher tried rocking the baby for a few minutes, turning the wailing into a whimpering cry. "Please just fall asleep." He whispered.

That wish did not come true. Instead the crying picked back up when the sound of Blaine's phone ringing cut through the room. "Shit." Blaine cussed, fishing it out of his pocket. Even seeing Kurt's name on the screen didn't send the same rush through him that it normally would have. "Kurt?"

"Blaine?" Kurt's voice wavered through the phone, obviously picking up on the background noise of the screaming child. "Is everything alright?"

"No." Blaine started to rock Julian again, holding the baby close with one hand and tucking his phone up to his ear with the other. "Nothing is alright. I- School starts tomorrow. I have so freaking much to do, and I can't get Julian to stop crying for the life of me. I just - is it bad if I break down and cry right alongside him?"

"Go for it if you think it'd help." Kurt replied dryly before he asked more sympathetically. "I was calling to see if you wanted me to come over with takeout or to make us dinner, but is there anything you need more? Earplugs?"

"Hah." Blaine paused a moment before he sighed. "Maybe. But really, some baby Tylenol or something? Ask at Walgreens or somewhere what kind of things work for teething babies? I think that's the problem. I hope so at least. He doesn't seem to be sick."

"I can do that. Or at least maybe let him cry into my shoulder long enough for you to go outside and scream into the night yourself." Kurt offered. "Baby painkiller. Check. I'll see you in a few minutes?"

"Thank you. Thank you so much. He hasn't cried this much since before the doctor started him on the reflux medicine. I feel like he's been sobbing for hours now." Blaine shifted to stand, truly not sure how long it had been since a slightly fussy Julian had turned into a bawling baby. "I'll unlock the door for you, so you can just let yourself in."

* * *

Blaine was convinced that Baby Tylenol might be the greatest invention since pacifiers. Kurt had shown up with a plastic bag full of freezable toys for the baby to chew on along with the liquid Baby Tylenol. After getting a dose into Julian with skills honed on giving daily reflux medicine, Blaine had finally managed to settle the baby. Blaine might have to call Miriam for advice on other solutions later but for now? He was in full support of painkillers.

He'd settled back down in the rocking chair with the boy, hoping Julian was worn out enough from all the tears to fall asleep. He sang softly as the chair moved, moving from one song to a second before he saw that baby's eyes start to droop.

_Your baby blues, so full of wonder  
Your curly q__'s, your contagious smile  
And as I watch, you start to grow up  
All I can do is hold you tight_

_Knowing clouds will rage  
And storms will race in, but you will be safe in my arms  
Rains will pour down, waves will crash all around  
But you will be safe in my arms_

Blaine stood carefully at the end of the song, not wanting to wake Julian back up now that he was finally asleep. His attention was so fully on putting the baby into his crib that he didn't even notice that Kurt had come back into the room until he felt the other man's arms wrap around his waist from behind, Kurt resting his chin on Blaine's shoulder as he spoke up. "Can you sing that to me when I'm having a bad day? I think would make it all better."

"I could. I could rock you in the chair as well." Blaine replied, joking softly before he turned in Kurt's arms, pressing a quick kiss to his boyfriend's lips. "Thank you for coming to save me today. I think I was about ready to fall apart."

"You can always count on me to put you back together again." Kurt stroked his hand along Blaine's back, soothingly. "You are tense tonight, huh?"

"Oh God. So tense. It's not just everything with Julian, though. I'm so nervous about the first day of school tomorrow. What if I horrible class of students? What if they mutiny? I have 35 on my list now. They could easily over power me and pull off a coup." Blaine worried.

Kurt shook his head with an amused smile. "If you have a tough class, you'll work with it, but they are not going to mutiny." He tugged at Blaine's hand, pulling him out of the nursery and toward his bedroom. "I could help you relieve some of that tension."

Blaine raised his eyebrows as he let Kurt lead him along. "Relieving tension? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

"I would assume you'd have a better answer to that one than I would." Kurt teased. "But I meant a backrub." He paused, looking Blaine over with a flirty smile. "Although I can't say that I would be adverse to other ways to 'relieve tension', if you're ready for them."

Blaine hesitated for a moment before he leaned in to pull Kurt into another kiss, pulling his hand free so he could tangle both of them in Kurt's hair. He pulled back, sucking on Kurt's lower lip for a moment before he shook his head with a sigh. "At this point? It's not that I'm not ready. It's just that I don't want our first time together to be when one of us is distracted and upset. I want to be in the moment, not fighting to be in the moment."

Kurt nodded, giving Blaine a sweeter kiss in return. "I understand. We'll just have to engineer ourselves a better time." Catching the look on Blaine's face, Kurt leaned down to rest his forehead on the other man's. "Really. It's fine. Now, do you want that backrub, or do you want help with your to do list?"

"Can we do the to do list and _then_ the backrub? Or is that overly greedy?" Blaine asked softly.

"Not at all. You'll probably enjoy the backrub more that way, right? And getting my hands all over your bare skin? Not exactly a sacrifice." Kurt teased before he pulled away. "I already ordered Chinese from your favorite place. Let's go get started while we wait for the food."

* * *

Kurt set his takeout box back down next to the stack of orange folders he was sticking labels on. "You supply all of this to your students? Don't they bring their own stuff tomorrow?" He finally asked the question he'd been holding back for the last half hour of counting and labeling notebooks and folders.

"Occasionally. In the neighborhood I teach in? About half of them will bring some part of the list. One or two might actually have everything they need. If I want them to have supplies, it's up to me to make sure they do." Blaine finished writing a name in cursive on a name tag with a flourish. "We're lucky this year actually. We got Target to donate a ton of spiral notebooks that didn't sell in their clearance after the back to school season last year, so I only had to buy the folders and composition notebooks out of my own funds. If you shop the sales right, that's not so bad."

Kurt shook his head. "I can't imagine starting school at the beginning of the year without that shiny new pencil box full of crayons and brand new markers."

"We're not in Ohio anymore, Toto." Blaine quipped. "I could choose to teach in the kind of suburb where the parents will send anything you ask or in a private school. I went to both types myself, there's nothing wrong with either. Hell, by the time Julian's school age, I may have strong incentive in bringing him along with me to teach in one of the two, but for now? I like working in a place where I can know that I'm helping the kids get a leg up in life."

"Because you're crazy." Kurt teased over, recounting the pile of folders. "These are done."

"Because I'm crazy." Blaine echoed with just as joking a tone. "The upside? I don't have as many overbearing parents to deal with. The kind of who think their child is perfect and that they know my job better than I do. Most of my parents are as supportive as they can be. They know that getting a good education is their kid's way to a better life in this country."

"I don't mean to sound like I think it's bad." Kurt clarified. "Being such a goodie two shoes? That's one of the reasons I lo- like you so much."

* * *

Blaine lay limp and sprawled out in just a pair of boxer briefs on top of the covers of his bed. "God Kurt, I think your hands are magic." He moaned as Kurt straddled over him, working out a knot in Blaine's upper back.

"Just wait until you feel them other places." Kurt teased, letting the tips of his fingers ghost down Blaine's spine.

"Mmm. Trying to entice me into more? Is that what this backrub is really about?" Blaine teased right back with a shiver.

"Absolutely." Kurt gave Blaine's shoulders one more squeeze then rolled off to lay alongside the other man. "Although I think the more might be falling asleep at some point before Julian wakes up for a middle of the night bottle."

"As long as it's not to scream for hours again. That would ruin all the bliss that backrub just brought on." Blaine let out another happy sigh. "Can I just never move again?"

"Stroke my ego, why don't you?" Kurt said with a grin over. "Setting it up for the same in the future?"

Blaine nodded. "Of course." He paused for a moment before he offered, "How do you feel about staying over tonight? I've heard that I'm a good cuddle."

Kurt pretended to consider that for a moment. "I believe that could be arranged. It might require you to climb beneath the covers, though."

Blaine grinned back. "I think I can manage that much. You're welcome to whatever products in my bathroom you want."

Kurt returned ten minutes later, stripped down to the tanktop he'd been wearing as an undershirt and his own pair of boxer briefs. A soft smile spread over his face as he saw that Blaine was already doing under the covers of the queen sized bed.

Kurt climbed in carefully trying to snuggle into Blaine's side without waking the other man, but Blaine still cracked his eyes halfway open as he draped an arm over his boyfriend. "This may be the first year I ever sleep on the night before the first day of school."

"Ever?" Kurt questioned the sleepy man softly as he rolled over, letting himself take the role of the little spoon.

"I'm usually too nervous." Blaine admitted.

"That's sweet." Kurt stroked his fingers over Blaine's hand. "Does this make it my turn for a lullaby?"

Blaine smiled into the hair at the back of Kurt's head, pausing to yawn before he started back into the same song he'd been singing to Julian earlier that evening.

_Castles they might crumble,  
Dreams might not come true  
But you are never all alone,  
Because I will always, always love you_

_When the clouds will rage  
And storms will race in but you will be safe in my arms  
Rains will pour down, waves will crash all around  
But you will be safe in my arms, in my arms_

**A/N: The song used in this chapter is _In My Arms_ by Plumb.  
**

**As a disclaimer: All of Blaine's experiences as a teacher are based off my years of being a teacher in a large, urban district. They may not be the exact struggles/triumphs of LA Unified (I'm not familiar enough with it to know), but they are based on reality in one of the other biggest districts in the United States.**


	12. Chapter 12

Kurt stood up from yet again re-adjusting the layers of an actresses skirt and stretched his hands up into the air, listening to his vertebrae crack. It had been a long week, one which he and Blaine had spent having to beg off TV watching nights in turn. Kurt had to finish up this set of costumes. Blaine had to get his classroom ready for Open House then actually hold the damn thing. But tonight? It was Friday. Blaine had arranged to have Miriam watch Julian. A date had been mentioned, with the distinct possibility of it turning into a picnic on Kurt's bed post 'tension relieving' activities.

Kurt would be lying if he said that he wasn't looking forward to those possibilities. He'd been content to wait until they were both ready. But now that they were ready? He was so looking forward to the thought of getting his boyfriend into bed with him for more than just cuddling.

Work wasn't going to let that happen easily though. Technical difficulties that morning had led to them being horribly behind schedule. As the low man on the wardrobe department totem pole, Kurt had been voted to stay and work until they finished shooting.

"I was just talking to the director. He said that we're pushing through tonight." Tina appeared beside him to impart that news with a scowl. "They want to make some lighting and backdrop changes after they shoot the next scene, so we're getting an hour or so off. Chipotle with me?"

"I was supposed to have a date with Blaine." Kurt let himself whine for just moment before he nodded. "Chipotle sounds good. I should text Blaine with the news."

"Invite him along? I know it's not the date you were planning, but he'd be welcome to crash our quick dinner before we shoot until two." Tina suggested.

Kurt nodded, flashing his friend a smile as he tried to hide his disappointment. He fished his phone out of his pocket.

_**Bad news. We**__**'re shooting until late. I'm going to have to cancel on the date. :(**_

Blaine must have had his phone nearby because it only took a few seconds before he replied.

**Aw. Well, I****'ll stop getting Julian ready to go to Miriam's then.**

_**Another time? Tina and I are going to the Chipotle near the studio in about 25-30 min. Want to come with?**_

**I****'ll get Julian's stuff together for that instead. See you there.**

* * *

Blaine was already seated with a burrito in front of him and Julian settled in a high chair by the time Kurt and Tina arrived 45 minutes later. Kurt leaned in to press a kiss to Blaine's cheek and then to the top of Julian's head when the baby started babbling excitedly at seeing him. "Sorry we're late. That last scene took more takes than I thought it ever would."

"James can't remember his lines for the life of him today." Tina grumbled leaning in to ruffle Julian's hair. "And we still have another four scenes on the scheduled. Thank goodness for a dinner break."

"You're fine. I have nothing better to do tonight. My plans canceled on me." Blaine said with a smile on his face to take the sting out of those words.

Kurt just wrinkled his nose at his boyfriend before he and Tina took a quick trip through the food line. Tina had taken the time to change out of the many layers of her period costume, but her makeup was still on, with her hair pulled into a complicated updo.

"We're going to have to allow time at the end of this for touch ups as well as for that bear from the wardrobe department to help you back into that getup." Kurt noted as he settled into the chair on the other side of Blaine from Julian at the round table.

"I know. He can be so demanding about getting his costumes just right." Tina joked right back, taking the last spot at the table.

"Your Uncle Kurt and Aunt Tina think they're _so_ funny." Blaine leaned closer to the baby to stage whisper.

"Hilarious." Kurt agreed.

A pair of college students wearing the logo of a midwestern college approached their table with shy faces. Blaine just grinned leaning closer to Kurt to really whisper. "Watch this. Let's see if Tina gets a big head."

That was indeed who they were coming over to talk to, apologizing for interrupting, but asking if they could take a picture with Tina.

She obliged good naturedly, chatting with them for a moment about her show and signing their napkins before the two starstruck teens left.

Blaine and Kurt sat quietly letting their bemused expressions speak for themselves. "Oh shut up." Tina said after the pair of young women were too far away to hear. "I have to be good to my fans. I mean, it's crazy enough that I _have_ fans."

"We didn't say anything." Kurt pointed out, poking his fork down into his taco salad.

"Tina, can I have your autograph?" Blaine begged with faked puppy dog eyes.

"See? See what I have to put up with? It was a pre-emptive shut up. He does this every time." Tina stuck her tongue out at Blaine, which got a loud laugh out of Julian.

"You can't blame me tonight. I had all my fun ruined by your show." Blaine whined before he shook his head as Julian stuck his own tongue out of his mouth, lolling it around. "Teaching him bad habits already."

"Oh. So it was _that_ kind of date?" Tina reached out to nudge a suddenly bright red Kurt with her elbow.

"At least you're more gracious about it than Rachel." Kurt said, in an attempt to change the subject. He had no doubt that the topic of his sex life would come back up later, but it was a better topic for Tina's dressing room than this restaurant. "I swear she's more excited about it than her fans are."

"That sounds completely like Rachel." Tina said with a bemused grin, and then a little smirk to let Kurt know he was right about that. "Ooh. How about we start a little rumor?"

"What kind?" Blaine asked cautiously.

"The fun kind?" Tina joked, pulling out her phone. "I promised my publicist I'd tweet today. I apparently have been behind on it, and I'd rather not hand over control of my account. How about a picture of all of us? It would at least give Tumblr something to talk about, the whole five fans I have on there at least."

"Or of you holding the baby. That could start a different sort of rumor." Kurt joked.

"Or both! I bet we could get one of those college girls to snap one for us." Tina mused, pulling Julian up out of his high chair to sit on her lap. The baby immediately reached out to grab her fork. Tina pushed her plate back, grabbing a plastic spoon to pass to Julian to chew on instead.

"You get to go ask one of them." Kurt directed towards Blaine with a look that said this whole thing was completely silly. "I'll take this picture." He grabbed Tina's phone to snap a picture as Blaine followed directions with a role of the eyes.

Tina took her phone back to check out the picture of her with a content baby in her lap, after all, chewing on a spoon was a pretty cool pastime. "Perfect. Now a caption. Ooh: 'Can I keep him?' and I'll tag Mike."

"You might have to fight Blaine for that right." Kurt joked as the other man re-appeared with not one but both of the young women.

"Thank you much for doing this for us." Tina told them graciously, passing the baby to Blaine for the picture. Kurt sandwiched himself between them, all leaning together for the teenager to take a couple of shots.

When they got the phone back, after a few more words of thanks to the girls, who were likely off to tweet about the experience themselves, Blaine and Kurt peered over Tina's shoulder to check them out.

"Oh, you need to use that one." Kurt said with a laugh. In the second shot, Julian had dropped the spoon, intent on reaching out for something even more entertaining. The picture caught him with hand outstretched towards Tina's hair and an intent look on his face, while none of the adults seemed to notice, busy smiling for the camera.

Tina laughed even more. "Alright, alright. That one it is. We'll keep this simple: 'Dinner with some of my favorite men before a late night of shooting.'"

"Trying to start cheating rumors?" Blaine teased. "That might work better if you at least chose straight guys."

Tina laughed as she glanced at her phone. "Oh. Mike replied. He must be between classes." She tilted the screen so that the guys could see what he'd written: 'I think Blaine might have something to say about that.'

Blaine grabbed his own phone with a laugh, quickly adding something in return. "There." He tilted the screen toward Kurt. 'Keep? No, but we might be able to work out a short term rental agreement.'

"Wouldn't that be called babysitting?" Kurt piped up with amusement before he shook his head at Julian. "Poor kid, surrounded by all these crazy people, aren't you?"

* * *

The next week passed quickly. Blaine had stopped by Kurt's place with Julian after work on Tuesday so they could cook dinner together. Kurt had stopped by Blaine's on Thursday to catch up on bad reality TV while Blaine graded papers. Constant texts were exchanged (whenever Blaine didn't actually have 35 fourth graders dependent on him). Another attempt at a picnic in bed was scheduled for Saturday. It was all planned out. Kurt would stop by so that they could prep fingerfood together, in Blaine's kitchen this time. They'd nibble together all night, then retire for more interesting activities as soon as Julian was asleep.

It was a good plan, much as the one the weekend before had been.

Kurt knew this one was going to work just about as well when Blaine opened the door to let him in. His boyfriend's hair was left in loose curls, but they were sticking up at crazy angles from his head. He had a whimpering Julian held on his hip and his phone tucked in between his ear and his shoulder.

Blaine grabbed the phone as soon as he let go of the door, leaning in to press a quick kiss to Kurt's lips before he replied to whoever he was talking to on the phone. "It was 103 when I took it." Blaine paused to wait for a reply, stepping back to let Kurt walk in. "It's one of the kind that you stick in his little ear?"

Kurt half listened as he headed toward the kitchen, dropping a re-usable grocery bag on the kitchen table, and starting to unpack.

"Let me write down that address. They'd be open even on Saturday night?" Blaine followed Kurt into the kitchen grabbing a magnetic notepad off the fridge, jotting an address down below his grocery list. "Thanks, Miriam. I don't know what I'd do without you." Blaine listened a moment longer before he disconnected, setting the phone down on the calendar. "Julian's sick." He replied to the curious look from Kurt.

"Not just teething?" Kurt asked, giving the baby a wary look. A sick infant seemed like a good candidate for projectile vomiting.

"I don't think so. He's been just generally off today. Fussy. Extra sleepy. Then he started throwing up this afternoon. I can't get him to keep anything down. He's got a fever." Blaine ran his hand up through his hair, illustrating the cause of his crazy curls.

"Aw, poor guy." Kurt reached out to run a hand over the baby's downy head. "You called Miriam for advice?"

Blaine nodded. "I didn't want to overreact like a crazy first time dad. At least I know now that Miriam would overreact just as much. She said she'd take Ella to the doctor if she'd done the same thing, especially at this age. Even gave me the name of a twilight pediatric office that's open on Saturday evenings. She's taken Ella there. I could trust them, right?"

Kurt moved closer to wrap his arms around Blaine and Julian. "Take a few deep breaths. Kids get sick. You'll take him in to the doctor, and he'll be just fine. I, on the hand, might perish from sexual tension."

"Mmmhmm. Something tells me you'll survive. And that I will, too." Blaine made a face over at Kurt before he rested his forehead on Kurt's shoulder, pulling away when Julian started to fuss again. "Shh. You're alright."

"Why don't you go get his diaper bag, and I'll put the food in the fridge. Do you want me to come along?" Kurt asked. "I could head home or stay here and watch your TV."

Blaine considered that for a moment. "Would I sound weak if I say that I want you to come with me?"

"When have I cared if you sound weak?" Kurt pointed out. "This isn't a competition to see who is more macho. Go get Julian ready. I'll store the food until we get back."

* * *

Kurt cradled Julian to his chest, despite the possibility of baby barf getting on his clothes, while Blaine filled out insurance and health history paperwork and returned it to the counter. He passed the baby back, gathering up the rest of their things instead when they were called back a few minutes later.

He followed Blaine back into an exam room, sinking into a chair off to the side to fiddle with his phone while the nurse weighed the baby. Offering moral support without getting into the way was the goal of the night.

"Good evening." The doctor entered the room about five minutes after the nurse left. "I hear this little guy isn't feeling well?" The woman asked, walking over to Blaine to smile down at the baby.

Blaine shifted Julian in his arms so that the baby was facing the doctor instead of burrowing his head into Blaine's shoulder. Julian whimpered unhappily at this movement, blinking his blue eyes wearily. "Yeah. He's been pretty irritable all day. I thought it was just teething again, but then he started throwing up this afternoon, and he has a fever."

"Come lay him down on the table, let me take a look at him." The doctor glanced over his paperwork. "He's five months? He's quite a little guy."

Kurt tucked his phone away listening with a quick laugh. "He looks so much better than he did two months ago, that I forget he might still be small."

Blaine kept a hand rubbing over the wisps of Julian's hair after he laid the baby down, since Julian had objected to the loss of arms holding him with renewed fussing. "You're okay, little guy." He whispered down soothingly before he spoke up to the doctor. "Kurt's right. I, um, when I took custody of him two months ago, he was super tiny for his age, and he was refluxing up most of his formula. That's one of the reasons I was worried, actually. He doesn't have extra weight to lose. He's on the growth charts now, but his regular pediatrician is still monitoring him closely."

The doctor nodded, stepping closer to peek into the baby's ears and down his throat. "No sign of an ear infection. It's probably just a stomach virus, but with a baby this young, I understand wanting to check it out. Let me check him over, and you two should be able to get your son back home in no time."

Kurt exchanged a quick 'she really thinks we're both his dads?' look with Blaine, but he didn't speak up. Two months ago, that insinuation would have panicked him. Today, it was met with just amusement, and the realization that he really wouldn't mind that. It just felt natural to want to step up and help Blaine raise Julian, even if he was still a little bit unsure of what the heck you were even supposed to do with a baby.

* * *

After bottles of Pedialyte and more doses of baby Tylenol, Julian made a full recovery from what the doctor diagnosed as simply a stomach virus. Blaine took Monday off to spend the day snuggling the baby, but by Tuesday, Julian was right back in daycare.

By Friday, Blaine was confident enough again to leave Julian in Miriam and Kelly's care. "I made sure there was a pacifier in his bag. And his favorite toy right now is that toy platypus Kurt got him. He likes to chew on the rubbery feet. And-"

"Blaine." Kelly cut him off, unstrapping Julian from his car seat to lift the baby up into her arms. "Miriam and I have done this all before. Breathe. It will be okay. I promise."

Blaine took a deep breath, as ordered, then just laughed. "I'm being neurotic again, aren't I?"

Miriam stepped up to wrap an arm around her friend's waist and give him a squeeze. "You are. Julian will have a great time here getting spoiled and playing with Ella. Go have fun with your boyfriend. Do you have big plans for the night? Ones worthy of that bowtie?"

Blaine rested his head over on his friend's shoulder for a moment, accepting the contact. "I made reservations at a French restaurant for us. Kurt and I haven't had a lot of date time lately. We've seen each other, talked and texted all the time, but every time we try to do something date-like, something gets in the way."

Kelly laughed at that. "Oh, believe me, we can sympathize with that. Welcome to parenthood."

Blaine grinned over to her at that and broke away from Miriam to plant a quick kiss on the top of Julian's head. "Then I'll have to return this favor and watch Ella for you sometime soon. Give you two a chance to go out."

* * *

Blaine knocked at the door of Kurt's apartment, a grocery store bouquet of carnations in his hands. The smile on his face slipped off as he got a look at his boyfriend when the door opened. "Kurt? Are you alright?"

Kurt ran a hand up through his raggedy hair as he nodded. The usually impeccably dressed man was currently wearing a pair of baggy sweatpants and a Hummel Tire and Lube t-shirt. "I'm fine. I just think Julian shared whatever that crap was that he had."

Blaine stepped into the apartment to reach up and feel Kurt's forehead with the back of his hand. "You're burning up. Have you taken anything yet?"

Kurt shook his head. "Fever is good for you. Kills off the bad shit."

"And it makes you miserable. Let's get you into bed, and I'll get you something." Blaine set the flowers onto the end table, wrapping his arm instead around Kurt's waist. "Are you keeping anything down?"

"Haven't tried. I threw up lunch, and Marjorie sent me home. Said she didn't need me puking on her costumes." Kurt sank in against his boyfriend's side, letting Blaine support him. "I don't want to get you sick."

"I'm not worried about that. Julian actually threw up _on_ me, and I didn't get it. My immune system is pretty hardy. I'm a teacher, I get exposed to something everyday." Blaine exaggerated, tugging back the covers on Kurt's bed with a mental sigh. This was absolutely not how he'd pictured getting Kurt into a bed tonight. Was the universe really against him getting some?

Kurt snuggled under the blankets as Blaine tugged them up around him. "You don't have to take care of me. I'll be fine." He mumbled into the comforter.

"Of course I don't have to. But I want to. Besides, how many times have you taken care of me? Let me have this one chance to return the favor." Blaine sank down beside Kurt running his hand through the other man's sweat damp hair for a minute before he stood. "Let me get you some water and Tylenol. We need to keep you from getting dehydrated."

The only reply was a muffled affirmative sound from the bed so Blaine made his way off into the kitchen, familiar enough with it at this point to find a glass and fill it up from the filter pitcher in the fridge. He glanced over the contents. He'd make a trip to the grocery store when he got Kurt settled. He didn't imagine that fish or salad was going to be the best thing to feed Kurt tonight.

He paused at the doorway to Kurt's bedroom to smile softly down at the man inside. Kurt had drifted off to sleep during in the short time Blaine had been in the kitchen. He took a moment to watch his boyfriend doze then grabbed a piece of paper. He scrawled out a message to let him know where Blaine was going, just in case Kurt woke up while Blaine was still at the store.

* * *

Blaine paused in the aisles for a second and then added a jug of Gatorade to the cart. The pediatrician had recommended giving Julian Pedialyte, and Gatorade was pretty much just the same thing for adults, right? He pulled his phone out as he moved down the next aisle snagging a loaf of wheat bread. The ability to make toast was definitely a necessity. He dialed Miriam's number, holding the phone up to his ear with the hand not steering the cart.

"Julian is fine." Miriam answered the phone with that comment, amusement in her voice. "I just finished feeding him a bottle, and he's playing on the floor, the platypus toy hanging out of his mouth like a dog."

Blaine laughed at that. It was easy to picture, since he'd seen Julian do the same thing several times. "Well, hello to you, too. Thank you for comparing my son to a puppy, but that's not actually the reason I called." Calling Julian his son rolled off of Blaine's tongue easier and easier everyday.

"Oh? What did you need? You know I'm not the best one to call for tips about men." Miriam noted lightly.

"Hah. No. Other than the fact that I think maybe God is trying to keep me from ever getting to actually get into Kurt's pants, that's all going well." Blaine winced at the look he'd gotten from the middle aged woman walking the other way down the aisle. He'd forgotten for a moment that he was standing in the middle of a grocery store. At least it hadn't been the parent of one of his students. "Kurt's sick. He thinks Julian gave him that stomach bug he has. I think the incubation period is all wrong, but I'm not about to say that to a man with a fever."

"I highly doubt that God would have a reason to keep you from, um, that. Not with someone you care so much about." Blaine could practically hear Miriam's blush in her tone. "But I'm sorry Kurt's not feeling well. Are you staying with him, or did you want to come get Julian early?"

"I'm at the store now, picking up a few things, but then I'm going to go back to take care of him. No fancy French food for us, but I was hoping you could send me the recipe for that homemade chicken noodle soup you make. That seemed to be a good substitute for the night." Blaine eyed the jams and jellies for a moment before reaching out for a jar of orange marmalade. It was always one of the first things he wanted on toast when he started to be able to handle flavor again. If nothing else, he'd eat it when he, hopefully, managed a real sleepover.

"Sure. I'll go email it to you now. Let Kurt know that we're hoping he'll feel better soon, alright?"

* * *

By the next Monday, Kurt was fully mended and back at work. Blaine claimed that it was the magic of Miriam's chicken noodle soup recipe, even though Kurt claimed it was just the virus running it's course.

Monday night, Kurt came over to Blaine's house to cook dinner for the two of them. Julian went to bed easily, that night at least, and the two of them curled up together on the couch, cuddling while Kurt watched the latest season of Top Chef and Blaine graded papers.

As the episode came to a close, Blaine tossed his papers down on the coffee table turning to pull Kurt into a hungry kiss.

Kurt pulled back after a moment, sucking in a breath before he tilted his head questioningly at the sudden change in atmosphere. "Blaine? What brought this on?"

"Time spent pressed up against my super hot boyfriend isn't enough?" Blaine asked.

"Flattery will get you everywhere." Kurt wrapped his arms up around Blaine's neck, kissing down along the end of the day stubble at the other man's jawline. "I'm not objecting, just surprised. And I know there's usually more going on up here," Kurt pressed a kiss next to Blaine's temple, "than I see."

"I was thinking about how stupid it's getting to be trying to find this romantic perfect time, when I really just want you naked and in my bed. It's going to be perfect, no matter what, because it's you." Blaine arched his head up, giving Kurt an open invitation as the other man started to trail kisses down his neck.

Kurt sucked for a moment at Blaine's pulse point before he pulled back, standing up quickly. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" He asked, offering a hand up to Blaine with a coy little smile on his face.

* * *

Kurt tossed the washrag he'd used to clean them up into the hamper before he sank bonelessly onto the bed beside Blaine. "God, that was good." He rubbed a hand up over his shoulder. "I still can't believe you bit me, though."

Blaine flushed, flinging a hand up over his eyes before he changed course, pulling Kurt in against him, reveling in the feeling of bare skin pressed together. "I'll keep apologizing if you want." He rolled onto his side as he flushed even deeper. "I did leave teeth marks, didn't I?"

"I'll take them as a compliment." Kurt assured, rubbing a hand down over the sex heated skin of Blaine's back. "And a reminder for tomorrow that this really happened."

"We'll both have a reason to be sore, in the best way possible?" Blaine suggested. At the look on Kurt's face he added, "You were wonderful. Don't apologize. It's just been awhile, and you aren't exactly small. Which believe me, you're not going to find me complaining about."

Kurt's tentative look turned into a smile, tossing a leg up over Blaine's to bring them close, chest to chest. "You know the best part about this?" Blaine raised his eyebrows in a response. A silent 'what?'. "This isn't the end of anything. We'll have many more nights to spent exploring every possibility we want. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them, if I have anything to say about it."

Blaine leaned forward the few inches needed to press a sweet kiss to Kurt's lips. His reply was cut short by the sound of whimpers coming through the baby monitor. Blaine knew from months of experience now that those just awake whimpers would turn to screams if he didn't get there quickly. He rolled away and off the bed, grabbing for his discarded boxer briefs to pull them back on. "I'd say that Julian has the worst timing in the word, but that's not really true. The worst timing would have been starting to cry in the middle of all of that. I suppose I can deal with him waiting until we were done."

**A/N: I thought long and hard about whether to change the rating to an M for this chapter and include smut or write it this way. In the end, I decided to just imply it had happened. Honestly, I tend to worry a lot as a person. I decided that I didn't want to write anything that could get me fired as a teacher or camp professional if someone links it back to me. I may change my mind someday, but right now, that possibility freaks me out (even though it would be writing about consensual sex between adults.**

**Schedule wise, next week's update might be slightly delayed (like up on Monday). I'm scheduled for a camp event on Saturday and Sunday (that might get canceled).**


	13. Chapter 13

"There's something very important we need to talk about, Blaine." Kurt sat up straighter as the classic episode of Project Runway came to a close. He'd been leaning against Blaine's chest at they watched, but now he turned to face his boyfriend.

"What?" Blaine asked, a flash of worry crossing his face.

"What are we going to dress Julian up as for Halloween?" Kurt asked, his expression serious.

Blaine slumped back against the cushions of the couch. "Seriously? The important thing is a Halloween costume? I thought something was _wrong_. Maybe I'd done something I didn't know about."

"It is serious. This is Julian's first Halloween." Kurt stated, leaning forward. He rested his elbows on Blaine's thighs to balance himself. "Plus, tomorrow is October 1st. These things take time. Oh! Do we want to do a coordinating costume? Tina said something about you dressing up in the past. Do you want to dress up in something to match whatever we choose for Julian?"

"Only if you're putting on a costume, too." Blaine said. "We could all three coordinate."

"And you're just adding to my sewing load. We'd better go ahead and choose something tonight then. It will take me time to find fabrics and get three costumes constructed." Kurt pulled his phone out of his pants pocket, sitting up straighter to open the web browser on it, googling for ideas.

"Because of course you'd have to sew them. No store bought costumes for Kurt Hummel?" Blaine asked with amusement coloring his tone. He peered over Kurt's shoulder at the screen. "A robber and a bag of cash? That'd be, um, interesting."

"Of course I need to create them. I have a reputation to maintain." Kurt just rolled his eyes down at the screen. "You are not dressing up that baby as a bag of cash, or at least, you'd need to find someone else to aid and abet that design."

"Fine, fine." As Kurt scrolled down the file of father/son costumes he'd opened, Blaine's eyes got wide. "That one! For real. Could you make a parrot costume?"

Kurt zoomed in to look at the image on the screen. "I bet I could make a better one than that." He commented before he turned to look over at Blaine with his own grin. "This is rather perfect. We could both dress up as pirates, easily enough. Tina and Mike could even get in on it if they wanted to. Tina could be our wench."

"Somehow I think there's a joke there that I'd be better off not making." Blaine drawled, getting a roll of the eyes in return from his boyfriend.

"You'll be insisting on a hook for a hand though, won't you?"

Blaine leaned forward to press a peck of a kiss to Kurt's lips. "How well you know me. I would be willing to settle for an eyepatch and a sword, though."

* * *

Tina ran her hands along the soft velvet of a bolt of fabric. "What are we looking for here?"

Kurt reached out to feel the thickness of a piece of upolstery fabric. "A rich, thick fabric to make a coat out of."

"A coat?" Tina asked curiously, feeling the one that Kurt had. "I like this. It's thick but soft. I could imagine wearing it."

"I could, too, but I'm not sure about the color." Kurt contemplated it a moment longer before he moved on. "I want to make a coat for Blaine's costume. A heavy, pirate-y one."

"Pirate-y? Is that even a word?" Tina teased, pointing towards a burgundy bolt. "That color seems rather pirate-y."

"See? Your even using it. That must make it a word." Kurt drawled back. He walked toward the fabric that Tina had pointed out, checking out the texture of it and the way it draped. "Good eye. This would actually be the perfect for his costume. Are you and Mike dressing up this year? You would be welcome to join Captain Blaine's crew."

"Captain Blaine, huh?" Tina leaned up against a shelf of fabric. "I hear that he does have the cutest parrot in existence." She pretended to consider it before the actress shook her head. "I don't think Mike and I are planning to dress up this year. If we do, I'll keep your theme in mind, though."

"Why, I do believe that he does." Kurt added the bolt of fabric to his cart. "Hoping for a quiet Halloween?"

"We do have one party that we'll go to, over the weekend before, but other than that? Quiet will be welcome. I'm looking forward to sitting at the front door with a bowl of candy for trick or treaters." Tina trailed after Kurt as they took off once more, heading for the selection of muslin.

"That's what I do most years. Or just watch _Hocus Pocus _and turn in early. It feels so different to have someone to celebrate the holiday with. It's my first real holiday to celebrate with Blaine. Julian's first Halloween. I just want it to go well." Kurt tested the weight of the different bolts of muslin before he chose one of a medium thickness. "I don't plan to go all out every year. Well, not for Blaine and I, but it is Julian's first Halloween. That calls for a look fit for many, many pictures."

"Have you sent any to your dad yet?" Tina asked curiously. "You have told him about Blaine, right?"

Kurt nodded. "Of course I have. I told him back in, uh, I think it was August. Maybe the end of July. He and Carole are coming out here for Thanksgiving. I think that half the reason is the weather and the other half is that Dad wants to meet Blaine and Carole wants to fuss over Julian. She'll definitely be on the receiving end of Halloween pictures, or I'll be hearing about it."

"You two are getting serious then? Since you have plans to introduce him to your parents?" Tina asked over before she shook her head. "Despite my role as matchmaker in all of this, can I just say that it is a little bit awkward having two of your friends date? Like, I want to bug you about your intentions, to make sure that you aren't going to hurt Blaine, but then I feel like I need to do the same thing to him."

Kurt laughed as he pushed the cart over to start selecting what he'd need in the way of notions. "So you want to be the big hulking friend for both of us? Threaten to beat me up if I don't treat Blaine right?"

"You know I'm so scary and imposing." Tina confirmed with a smirk.

"Consider me quaking." Kurt drawled before he shook his head, unable to keep the sappy expression off his face. "I think I'm falling in love with him. No, I think I'm _in_ love with him. With both of them. So, yes, I suppose things are getting serious, or at least I want them to be. I think that one of the reasons our relationship is working, where my last several just fizzled out, is that we want the same thing from it. We both want a partner to love and support us. Someone to build a family with. Lord. Look at me. I'm getting sappy in the middle of a fabric store."

Tina gave Kurt a sweet smile. "Alright. I'll have to say that I no longer feel the need to threaten to beat you up." Tina joked before she added more seriously, "Just make sure you keep the lines of communication open then? Make sure you stay on the same page. I think that's what made Mike and I work when we got back together. We were open with each other about what we wanted out of our relationship and in life. Well, that and the fact that I still loved him like crazy."

* * *

Kurt adjusted the edge of the vest he'd paired over a pale yellow button down nervously as he watched Blaine unsnap Julian's car seat from the car. "Why am I nervous for this dinner? I've met Miriam and Kelly."

Blaine shrugged, making a silly face down at the baby as he straightened. "I have no idea. Neither one of them bite." Blaine considered the thought for a second as he leaned back in to grab Julian's diaper bag. "Well, maybe it's because they're my friends? Miriam is probably about the best of my friends that wasn't already one of yours? I'll admit that I'm almost as nervous to meet Rachel for the first time as I am your dad."

Kurt pondered that on the walk to the porch of the craftsman Blaine's friends lived in. "Maybe. Or- maybe this really feels more like dinner with the in-laws. I feel like Miriam could just as well be your sister."

"I'd almost rather she was than any of my actual family." Blaine admitted. "Come on. Take a deep breath. Let out your nerves. This is going to go well. Miriam adores you."

Kurt nodded, following Blaine's directions before he reached out to ring the doorbell.

* * *

Kurt grinned over to Kelly as he set his spoon down. "So you two got married in Iowa?"

Kelly nodded back. "Almost two years ago now. I grew up there. I always dreamed of getting married in the little church I grew up in. Miriam was up for the idea, so we flew out there." She exchanged a smile with her wife. "It was just a simple ceremony. We had the reception out at my grandparents' farm. Probably a little bit more country than most people in L.A. would expect from us, but it worked."

"And your church was happy to have you?" Kurt asked curiously.

"We weren't the first gay couple they'd had married there. Not saying that it was common, but I was glad we weren't the first. I still think that it is a little bit crazy that we were legally allowed to get married in Iowa before we were in California." Miriam piped in, standing up. "I made German chocolate cake. Would you all like a piece?"

"We could take dessert into the living room. Let the babies play on the floor." Kelly suggested standing up as well to help collect the dishes.

"That sounds great." Blaine turned to let Ella out of her high chair, where her hands and face had already been cleaned. "Why hi there, little girl." He bounced her onto his hip then smiled over toward Kurt. "Can you grab Julian?"

Kurt followed, at ease with the baby in his arms. "You know, I don't know how I'd feel about going back to Ohio to get married." He commented, as they waited for the women to join them again. "I honestly don't think I'd want to. When I was a teenager, my dreams were all full of New York, and I definitely imagined myself getting married there, once it was legal. Now? I could still imagine that, or getting married out here in California. I can't imagine going back to Ohio, though. The people I'd want to come be at the ceremony would come wherever we chose to hold it."

Blaine smiled as he settled cross legged on the floor with the little ones, starting up a game of peek-a-boo with Ella and a baby blanket. He'd caught Kurt slipping into talking about his wedding as _theirs_ whether Kurt had or not. "I couldn't imagine that I would want ours to be in Ohio either. I do want to be married, someday, but either in my church out here or out in nature somewhere. On a beach. In a park or garden. Somewhere like that."

"Well, I see we've added a third child to the group." Miriam noted with a playfully teasing tone as she came into the room, passing a piece of cake on to Kurt.

Kurt just laughed. "Always." He played along but he also gave Blaine an affectionate wrinkle of the nose.

"Ooh cake! I suppose I could be coaxed back to adulthood for the promise of cake." Blaine tossed the blanket over the head of the giggling girl in front of him to stand and settle onto the couch at Kurt's side.

"I'm not sure that being lured by cake really makes you an adult." Kurt noted, but he didn't protest when Kelly passed a piece over to Blaine. Or when Blaine settled himself close enough that the warm line of his thigh was pressed up against Kurt's leg.

* * *

"Nothing to be nervous about, was there?" Blaine asked as he slipped under the covers beside Kurt in his bed.

Kurt shook his head. If he'd been spending more nights lately in Blaine's bed than his own, well, the way Blaine pulled him tightly into his arms explained why. Kurt had never really thought of himself as someone who slept better in a bed with someone else before. It had always been something that was just okay. Now? He missed curling up together on nights when he and Blaine weren't in the same bed. Even when they weren't cuddling, or engaged in even more pleasurable activities, there was just something reassuring about Blaine's presence next to his on the bed. "No, there was really nothing to be nervous about. Meeting your parents on the other hand…"

"Yes. You may be nervous for that. Hell, I'll probably be nervous for that. Their support financially has made taking care of Julian easier. I could find a way, but having them pay just the daycare fees has taken a lot of pressure off. I don't- I don't want them to be mad about our relationship, but I don't see any reason they should be. I know that they don't really understand why I date boys, but they've had enough years to realize that it's not going to change." Blaine turned his head to bury his face into his pillow

Kurt took Blaine's hand in his own, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'll try not to piss them off." He commented dryly. "But I bet it will be just fine. I'm pretty sure my dad is going to love you, at least."

Blaine squeezed back. "Are you excited to see them? A month or so until they get here, right?"

"Right. And I am. It feels so adult, getting to show my dad the life I've built here. Introduce him to you and Julian. It will be- I have no real doubt that it is going to be great."

Blaine smiled, letting himself relax. "After we get through that, maybe we can make plans for you to meet mine. Maybe over winter break? You're going back to Ohio, too, right?"

"Still planning on it, yes." Kurt shifted in bed to press a kiss to Blaine's lips. "One step at a time. Now, are you ready to get some sleep or would you like some help to relax first?"

Blaine's smile grew. "Well, I'm not sure that I wouldn't turn down any help in that area that was offered." He pressed his lips to a spot at the base of Kurt's ear before he whispered. "I love you. So much."

Kurt pulled back slightly so that he could look straight into Blaine's eyes as his own smile grew. "I love you, too, Blaine."

* * *

Before Kurt knew it, Halloween was upon them. He spent the evening before furiously finishing up the final touches on their costumes. Truth be told, he finished hemming the bottom of the shirts he'd made for Blaine and himself as soon as he got home from work. Production had let out mid-afternoon to give the cast and crew time to celebrate the holiday. Even with a few last minute needs, Kurt was still over at Blaine's house by four o'clock, already dressed in his pirate get-up.

"You know that we're going to have to make gay pirate jokes all night long, right?" Blaine asked as he took the bag with his costume out of Kurt's hands with a quick kiss of thanks.

"So it's for the best that we decided on this theme before Julian got old enough to understand any of them?" Kurt asked in reply. "They're all going to be about your plank, aren't they?"

"Guilty as charged." Blaine shrugged, not looking at all guilty about it.

"Go change, captain." Kurt replied with an amused shake of his head. "And where is your little parrot? I can go get him into his costume. I know when Tina got off set, so we could head over to show off anytime."

"Yes, of course, my first mate. Julian's up in his crib. I just finished changing his diaper when you knocked, so he's ready for whatever you want to put on him." Blaine leaned in to give Kurt one last kiss on the cheek before he took off up the stairs.

* * *

Kurt passed Julian over to Blaine when they met back up in the living room, reaching up to adjust the collar of the coat he'd sewn for Blaine.

"I really do feel like a pirate in this." Blaine commented, settling the baby on his hip. "Although, not to question your costuming genius, but I thought you were turning Julian into a parrot?"

Kurt looked over the red onesie and red pants that Julian was sporting. "What? You don't think he looks like it already?" Kurt joked as he reached out to unclasp a little hand from one of the big buttons down the front of Blaine's coat. "There's another piece to that. I promise." He went back to his bag and pulled out a top. "I patterned it on a hoodie, but with the parrot head as the hood." Kurt said, holding out one arm so that Blaine could see the panels of colored fabric 'feathers' that stretched out between the body and the arm of the jacket.

"Alright. Now I can bow to you, Mr. Costume Designer. I'm sorry I ever called your abilities into doubt." Blaine teased.

"You better be. I'm sure you can find a way to make it up to me. Later. When we get back and put Jules to bed." Kurt winked over and then turned to head out the door. "I wanted to keep the costume comfortable. Jules is too young to understand suffering for fashion."

* * *

Tina squealed when she opened the door, reaching out to grab Julian from Kurt's arms. They'd added the rest of the parrot costume out in the car, and it did in fact look adorable on the baby.

"I didn't know people actually made that sound." Mike commented as he stepped up to look them over. "Great pirate look. Do I need to worry about you making me walk the plank?"

Blaine dissolved into laughter at that inadvertent reference to their earlier joking.

Kurt just shook his head at the 'what did I do?' look that Mike shot him. "I think Blaine should be more worried about whether he's ever going to get his kid back from your wife." He turned his head to watch Blaine continue laughing. "And whether working with nine year olds has permanently stunted his sense of humor to that level."

They did managed to steal their parrot back from the actress. After all, there were pictures to be taken. Julian's first Halloween had to be documented in detail. Kurt took several on his phone to immediately send off to Carole. He laughed at the reply. "Carole says she can't wait to get here next month to hold him. I have a feeling that Jules will be spending Thanksgiving weekend being very spoiled."

"I doubt he'll mind." Blaine commented, smiling toward Tina as she snapped a shot of the three of them together. "What time is it? We're supposed to meet Miriam and Kelly by 5:45, so that we can take the kids to that Senior Living Place near their house to trick or treat."

"We've got time, Captain, relax." Kurt replied after a quick glance at his phone. It might not match the outfit, but he wasn't about to go through the night without it. "I have a feeling that taking those two babies to an Assisted Living Facility for trick or treating with the residents greatly increases the odds that Tina's not the only one cooing over cuteness that we're going to hear tonight. Maybe I should have included earplugs with the costume."

**A/N: I'm officially taking myself off a regular Sunday posting schedule. I will get the rest of this posted, but I can't guarantee day of the week anymore. Between being a teacher and working for a summer camp, this is my busiest time of year. I pretty well work six, twenty-four hour days a week during the summer, so I'm anticipating that it will be an update every week and a half or two weeks.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm sorry for the short chapter after a long wait. Life was insane. It'll be pretty crazy all summer, but I should be able to find more snippets of time to write at this point. I'm not promising dates, but the next chapters should come more quickly than this one.**

Kurt was nearly finished folding the last of a load of tiny pieces of laundry when his phone started to ring. A grin crossed his face as he recognized the tone. "Dad!" He greeted simply.

"Evening, Kurt. What are you up to tonight?"

Kurt switched the phone onto speaker and put it down on the couch beside a neatly folded pair of miniature khakis. "I'm over at Blaine's. His little boy is finally ready to start moving up into the next size of clothes, so we're working on organizing and seeing what Blaine already has."

"Sounds very domestic." Burt rumbled.

"It is. Nicely so." Kurt paused for a second before he asked, "Is there anything you need? Or did you just call to to talk?"

"I just wanted to talk about a few details of our trip. Carole and I were talking about whether or not we need to book a hotel room, and if you knew of any good hotels near you." Burt replied.

Kurt picked up a small baby button down shirt, checking the size before he added it to a pile. "That's up to you. If you'd rather, you could stay at my place. I don't mind giving up my bed for the weekend."

"I don't want to send you to the couch for us, kid." Burt insisted.

Kurt could feel his heart beating faster as he suggested. "I could always stay with Blaine." He offered, trying to sound nonchalant.

"His couch is more comfortable than yours?" Burt asked, with a gruffly teasing tone.

"His couch. Sure. If that's what you want to believe." Kurt joked right back.

Burt laughed. "I am your father, you know. No matter how grown up you get, you'll still be my little boy."

Kurt felt arms wrap around him from behind. He leaned back against Blaine as he responded. "Then we'll let you keep your illusions, Dad." He tilted his head to smile at his boyfriend. "I'm sure Blaine wouldn't mind having me stay over so that you two could have my bed instead of paying for a hotel room, would you?"

Blaine gulped. "I'm not sure that's safe to answer before I've even met your father." He responded softly, trying not to let the phone pick it up.

That attempt must have failed, at least in part. "Is that Blaine? Is he there with you?" Burt questioned.

Kurt grabbed his phone up off the couch. "You're not going to interrogate him over the phone, Dad. Text me your flight number, and we'll meet you at the airport. I love you."

"I love you, too, kid. I'll see you in a few days."

"Your dad is going to eat me alive, isn't he?" Blaine waited for Kurt to disconnect the call before responded. "And you've just given him one more reason."

"He's probably going to try to act all tough, but then he'll loosen up. You'll be fine. He's going to love you. Or at the very least, he loves me, and he'll be glad to see how happy you make me." Kurt paused to turn around and give Blaine a mischievous smile. "And no matter what he tells you, he's a Congressman, not the President. He does not have the power to send the Secret Service after you if you hurt me."

* * *

It was just before six o'clock, Los Angeles time, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when Kurt spotted his father's baseball cap clad head through the crowd of people exiting the secured zone of the airport. "Dad!" Kurt left Blaine's side to rush up and give his dad a hug. "I'm so glad you made it."

Burt squeezed Kurt tightly. "I'm glad to be here, kid. And not just for the weather."

Kurt inhaled his father's familiar scent for a moment longer before he broke away, turning to give Carole a quicker hug of greeting. "It's good to see you, Carole."

"Good to see you, too." Carole pulled back to glance around. "Did you bring that boyfriend of yours with you?"

"What she really means is, did you bring that baby you've been sending us pictures of with you." Burt teased his wife with a smile over.

Kurt just laughed, leading them over toward Blaine and Julian, riding securely in his stroller. He slipped a hand up on Blaine's shoulder, hoping to reassure his boyfriend. "Dad, Carole, this is Blaine." At the sound of babbling coming from the stroller, Kurt smiled down at the baby. "And Julian, who apparently will make his own introductions if necessary."

Blaine gave Kurt's parents a nervous smile, offering out his hand to Burt. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

Burt shook Blaine's hand, a little bit harder than necessary. "Call me Burt."

Carole rested a hand on Burt's arm with an amused smile on her face. "Stop trying to terrify the poor man." Blaine got a quick smile as well. "It's very nice to meet you, Blaine. Now, would you mind if I rescue someone from the confines of their stroller?"

Blaine laughed as he tried to avoid letting anyone see him shaking out his hand. "I'm sure Julian would probably appreciate that. He doesn't mind his stroller or car seat, but he definitely prefers being carried."

Kurt bent down to undo the straps of the cherry red stroller, lifting Julian up into his arms. He got a big two toothed smile for his efforts before he offered the baby out to his stepmother. "I can see who rates here." He joked.

Carole took the baby and snuggled him close against her chest. "Exactly." She teased right back. "I think Julian and I are going to become good friends this weekend. Aren't we?" The baby didn't respond aloud, but he looked content enough chewing on his hand with his big blue eyes turned up to examine this new person.

"He isn't screaming about it, so I think that's a good sign." Kurt noted before his gaze went to his father. "Are you two hungry? I was thinking that we might stop on the way to my place for dinner."

"Dinner would be good, Kurt. You'll have to be our local expert on where to go." Burt watched his wife fawn over the baby with a mixture of amusement and affection clear on his face. "We're three hours behind here, so I know I could use some food."

* * *

After a brief conversation about restaurants, Kurt and Blaine settled on the same Mexican place they'd had fish tacos in together so long ago. They found themselves in a different booth, but the atmosphere was still familiar, comforting for Blaine.

They restaurant had settled a high chair on the end of the table for Julian, but he hadn't spent all that long there before he'd ended up right back in Carole's lap. They'd ordered, after reassurances that fish tacos really were a good idea, leaving plenty of time for conversation.

"You know Kurt, you never have told us exactly how you met." Carole pointed out, bouncing the leg with the baby on it to the sound of little giggles.

Blaine glanced over at Kurt before he fielded the question. "It was actually here in this restaurant. In a booth over there." He turned to glance at the couple occupying his favorite booth. "Mike and Tina introduced us. Mike had been over helping me paint my new home, and Tina had been helping you unpack, right?" Blaine glanced back at Kurt for a nod of confirmation. "We all met here afterward to grab supper, and well, I wished I'd taken Tina's advice to change out of my painting clothes."

"I never knew Tina'd asked you to change out of them." Kurt turned a little bit in the booth to smile over to his boyfriend. "I did think that the streak of paint down your face was more than a bit adorable." He reached up to run the pad of one finger over that spot on Blaine's forehead.

Burt shook his head at that, a fond smile on his face for his son before he aimed a question at Blaine. "Are you new in town as well, then?"

"Oh, no. I moved out to LA for college. I've been here ever since. I had been Mike and Tina's roommate, though." Blaine reached for his soda, taking a quick drink before he answered the question further. "I'd finally saved up enough money for a down payment on a place of my own. It's just a two bedroom townhouse, but it's nice to have a place that's mine. Even if it does still mostly belong to the bank."

Burt nodded, not able to find fault with that answer. "Kurt told me you're a teacher?"

Blaine nodded, relieved to have the conversation move into comfortable ground. "I am. I teach fourth grade in one of the public schools here. I love it, overall. I can't imagine being anything but a teacher. Long hours and not a lot of money, but the kids are worth it."

"My son, Finn, is a teacher, too." Carole piped up, rifling through Julian's diaper bag to find a ring of toy keys to dangle in front of little hands. "I know he feels the same way about his job."

The conversation continued to flow as their food arrived. Blaine was thankful when the attention turned from him over to Kurt as the topic flowed into stories from Kurt's job and the things Kurt had learned about the city.

"I am excited to get back on Monday to put the finishing touches on a suit I'm tailoring for one of the actors." Kurt admitted. "But I don't want to rush the weekend away."

"We don't fly out until early Monday morning, so there will be plenty of weekend to not rush away, Kurt." His father pointed out. He was bouncing Julian on his knee, having acquired the baby from Carole at some point during the meal. "Do you have any plans for us already besides dinner tomorrow?"

"Well, I was hoping Carole might be up for our annual Black Friday shopping trip." Kurt hesitated to go over plans in his head. "What time are the football games you want to watch. I know both of you probably have a schedule." Kurt glanced between Blaine and his father with a grin. "I was hoping to go visit the ocean on Saturday and sight seeing on Sunday, or the other way around. Can you come with us?" That last part was aimed at Blaine.

"I can get next week's lesson plans finished while you're out shopping. That would free me up for the rest of the weekend." Blaine squirmed in his chair as he admitted. "Except for church. I absolutely can't skip this week."

Burt's attention came up off the baby to look over to his son's boyfriend. Church. That was something that Kurt hadn't mentioned. "Do you never skip a week?" Burt asked, letting his curiosity show.

"No. I mean, sometimes I do." Blaine looked over to the baby. Julian was a safe place to rest his eyes. "I have a great church I go to most weeks. This Sunday - well, Julian's getting baptized."

Kurt turned to stare over at the man in the booth beside him. "You didn't tell me that."

"It's a church thing. I didn't really think you'd want to know." Blaine tried to keep his tone level against the hint of chill in Kurt's. A fight in front of Kurt's parents was something he definitely didn't want to have happen.

"But it's a pretty big deal, isn't it?" Kurt caught the look on Blaine's face and nodded. "Maybe we can talk about it later?" When his parents weren't watching on. "Maybe sightseeing Saturday, and then the beach after church on Sunday? It's not really the right season to spend all day there."

"How would you feel about Burt and I joining you for church Sunday?" Carole piped up. "Are your parents coming out for Julian's baptism? Or your brother?"

Blaine shook his head. "They're staying in Ohio for Thanksgiving this year." He said, jumping into the second set of questions first. "And Cooper is still up in Vancouver. I'd love to have you join me though, if you want to. I can stop by Kurt's place and pick you up on the way."

* * *

Leaving his parents at his apartment to head off to his boyfriend's wasn't as awkward as Kurt had been afraid it was going to be. Staying over at Blaine's just felt natural. Half of the time when he woke up at his own place, his first thoughts were to wonder why it was so cold in his bed. Blaine was a cuddler, something Kurt had found he didn't mind. It did mean that it was a rare morning when he woke up in Blaine's bed without at least his boyfriend's arm or leg slung over him.

Blaine made his way back out of the bathroom and stood behind Kurt, looping an arm around Kurt's pajama pant clad waist as he pressed his chest up against Kurt's back, skin to skin. "I hope you're not too mad at me." He whispered into Kurt's ear.

"You're just using cuddles to try to get yourself out of the doghouse." Kurt grumbled before he shook his head. "Not too mad. Annoyed is probably a better word. Maybe miffed. A bit hurt. I just feel like you left me out of a fairly big loop."

"I didn't think you'd care." Blaine admitted. "You generally try to avoid all the religious stuff. I honestly didn't think you'd really care when Julian got baptized, because it falls under that church heading."

"I just- I think it's more that I feel like you're leaving me out than that it's something religious." Kurt decided, turning around in Blaine's arms so that he could face his boyfriend. "I'd like to be the one to decide whether or not I want to attend, but either way I want to know. Does that make sense?"

Blaine nodded. "It does. I'll try to do a better job keeping you in the loop." He promised.

"Thank you." Kurt paused before he decided. "I think I want to come along on Sunday. One day of church won't scar me for life, and I want to be there for you, and for Julian."

Blaine leaned forward to press a soft kiss to Kurt's lips. "I'd love to have you there with us."


	15. Chapter 15

After a breakfast of bagels and fresh fruit that Kurt and Blaine had picked up on their way to Kurt's apartment, everything had settled into a relaxed atmosphere. Carole had offered to help Kurt out in the kitchen, but he'd politely refused on the grounds of it being too small, promising to call for her if needed.

That left Blaine sitting in the armchair in Kurt's living room, while Julian was sandwiched on the couch in between Burt and Carole with a scattering of baby toys around him. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was up on the T.V., but Blaine found himself watching his son more than he watched the screen. The baby was basking in all the attention he was getting from Kurt's parents. Burt would point out all the floats to Julian, as if the baby understood both what he was seeing and why. Carole frequently turned in to dangle a toy or tickle the little boy, getting shrieks of laughter out of him.

Finally, Blaine had to have a moment to think away from a scene that was both incredibly happy and stirring up all kind of other emotions inside him.

Kurt looked over in surprise as he saw the look on Blaine's face as he entered the kitchen. Kurt finished sliding the sweet potato casserole into the oven and stepped over to wrap his arms around his boyfriend. "What's wrong?"

Blaine settled his head into the crook of Kurt's neck for a moment before he pulled away, leaning back against the counter to dash a tear from his eye with the heel of his hand. "Nothing. It's silly." At the arched eyebrow he got from Kurt, Blaine elaborated. "It's nothing wrong. It's just-"

Kurt waited a moment to hear Blaine finish that sentence before he prompted, when it seemed as if nothing was coming, "It's just what?"

Blaine spent another long moment formulating the words in his head before he began, keeping his tone low enough not to carry over the noise of the T.V. "When I was a kid, I always envied my friends for their relationships with their grandparents. They would spoil them in the best way. Take them places, go to their events, just generally take an interest in them, you know? But mine were never like that. I got birthday and Christmas presents, sure, but they were distant, almost imposing figures. I wanted the kind of grandpa who would take me to the park to throw a football around and not just the one who would be there at the head of the table to carve the turkey."

Kurt slid in next to Blaine against the counter wrapping an arm up and around Blaine's shoulders to tug him in close. "That sounds pretty reasonable of the child you. What brought this back up today?"

Blaine turned his gaze toward the living room area, where Carole had pulled a yawning Julian up into her arms. "I always assumed Julian would grow up the same way. That my parents would be the same kind of grandparents that I had. But maybe that doesn't mean he can't still have what I always wanted."

Kurt squeezed Blaine a little bit closer. "Maybe it doesn't. I have to say that Dad is just as smitten as I knew Carole would be. They may live halfway across the country, but I don't think that is going to ever stop them from taking a grandparent role in Jules' life."

Blaine tilted his head to let it rest on Kurt's shoulder. "That makes me so happy. So, see? It's nothing wrong. It was just a lot to realize in that moment. I needed a breath and a hug."

"You know I'm always good for the second." Kurt joked. "I mean, it's such a hardship to have to hug you. How will I ever survive?"

Blaine's laughter was cut off by Burt clearing his throat. "I hope I'm not interrupting?"

Kurt pulled his arm away, turning back to his cooking. "Not at all."

"Mm hmm." His dad smirked over at Kurt before he turned his attention to Blaine. "Carole wanted to know if Julian should have a bottle before his nap. I think we're starting to wear him out."

* * *

Blaine rocked a still sleepy Julian in his arms as Carole collected his empty plate. "I'll just see if Kurt needs any help with dessert." She said, smiling at the way Julian sucked on his fingers as she left the room, headed for the kitchen area.

Blaine fought the urge to gulp. This was the first time he'd truly been alone with Kurt's father, if you didn't count the baby.

Burt seemed to recognize this at the same time, leaning forward to study his son's boyfriend. "Is this the point where I question you on your intentions?" Burt asked with gruff humor

Blaine paused for a deep breath before he answered. "I suppose it could be. I definitely have good ones though. I mean, I wouldn't want to entwine someone into Julian's life this much that I didn't imagine having around for a very long time." Blaine cracked a smile. "And Kurt already told me that you can't really send the Secret Service after me."

Burt started to laugh. "He did, did he? Well, I wasn't planning to use that particular line tonight anyway. That one was reserved for a boyfriend who was a much worse choice than you are."

Blaine considered that at least some kind of endorsement of their relationship. "Thank you, I think."

Burt reached over to clap Blaine on the shoulder. "You seem like a good kid. I admire the fact that you've shifted your whole life around to raise that baby. Speaks well of you. I hope Kurt keeps you around for a long time. I like the smile I see on his face when he looks at you."

That was an endorsement. Flat out. Blaine could feel a blush heating his cheeks, so he tried to hide it by turning his gaze down to watch Julian drift off to sleep in his arms, half the baby's hand still in his mouth. "You know, I have a lot of things in my life to be thankful for today that I would never have even considered last Thanksgiving, or even at the start of the summer. My relationship with Kurt is a big one of those. I'm glad that Tina decided to play matchmaker when he moved to town. Actually, I'm just glad he took a chance on moving to L.A. I can't imagine not having met him. And Julian. I never imagined I could fall in such deep love with someone who throws up on me on a semi-regular basis"

"You're a good dad to him from everything I've seen." Burt commented before he added a question. "Are you planning on adopting him?"

"Yes." Blaine answered quickly. "I'm just waiting to have custody for six months. Then rounds and rounds of red tape. I'll probably get to start the whole process in January. Julian's social worker said we'd have the option to file for either permanent guardianship or adoption. I'd rather adopt him, and my brother is supporting that. He's flat out told me he'd rather have an uncle relationship with Julian. I don't- I don't get that."

Burt shook his head. "Me, either. I can't imagine ever letting someone else raise Kurt. I wasn't always sure what to do with a kid that liked dress up and tea parties, but I always loved him, even in his mouthy teenager moments."

Blaine stifled laughter, not wanting to wake up the baby right after he'd just asleep. "Exactly. I can't imagine ever giving Julian up. But then again, I can kind of see Cooper's point. He's not willing to have his life revolve around anyone but himself. I probably am the better choice to raise Julian. I can't say that I'm really too sorry about Cooper's choice, even if I don't totally understand it. I've found that I rather love being a dad."

* * *

Six a.m. might have been early on a normal day, but on the Friday after Thanksgiving it was well into prime shopping time for Kurt. He and Carole had both acquired early morning iced coffees and set off on their mission. After a stop at Target for electronics for Finn (and toys for Julian), they'd made their way to the Grove to a more mall like atmosphere.

"This is definitely not the Lima mall." Carole stated as they made their way out of J. Crew.

"Definitely not." Kurt agreed, looking around at the nearby stores. "For one thing, you wouldn't want to build something where your shoppers were this open to the elements in Ohio."

"Are you going to miss winter?" Carole teased in response.

"I doubt it." Kurt grinned back at her. "I'm glad you and Dad came out here. I miss doing this together on the Thanksgivings we've spent apart."

Carole rested a hand on his arm, giving her stepson a quick squeeze. "Me, too. Who else would save me from my fashion faux pas? And it's just plain nice to spend time with you. I wish Finn had been able to come, but I understand his desire to spend Thanksgiving at Laura's. They're both planning to be at our house for Christmas, since you'll be back."

Kurt nodded, before he asked in a rather tentative tone. "Laura's coming? So if Blaine stops by for part of day that would be alright."

"More than alright. Especially if he brings that adorable baby along with him. He's coming back to Ohio for the holidays?"

"He is." Kurt considered his choice of words for a moment before he decided just to open up to his stepmother. "I get the impression that he thinks it's his duty as a son more than that he wants to. I don't think Blaine has the closest relationship with his parents. They haven't met Julian yet, so I think this trip for him is as much about making them do that as it is about spending Christmas together."

"Invite him over for as much of the trip as he'd like to come," Carole decided on the spot. "I like him. I'm glad you found such a charming man."

Kurt didn't try to hide the smile that bloomed on his face at his stepmother's endorsement of his boyfriend. "I'm glad I did, too. He's pretty wonderful."

A store caught Kurt's eye, and he led them over. "Janie and Jack. This store is supposed to have really cute kids' clothes. I want to get Jules a special outfit for his baptism Sunday." At the amused look on Carole's face Kurt asked, "What?"

"Nothing. It's just that a disproportionate amount of your shopping this morning has been for Julian." Carole held the door open even as she teased her stepson.

"Well, can you blame me? There are so many cute things in his size." Kurt picked up a tiny cardigan to look it over. "Blaine dresses him just as preppily as he dresses himself."

"I just wouldn't have always pictured you doting over a baby. You were always so afraid that if you held one they'd ruin your outfit." Carole picked up a small button down shirt, holding it up for Kurt to see.

"What can I say? Jules wrapped me right around his little finger." Kurt set the cardigan back on the rack moving to look at the shirt Carole had selected. "I couldn't help falling for him, any more than I could help falling for Blaine."

Carole grinned over, enjoying seeing Kurt's happiness. "You do realize that as long as you and Blaine stay together, Julian will probably grow up to view you as his father as much as he does Blaine."

Kurt stared up from his shopping and over at his stepmother. This was something that he'd never considered.

* * *

Kurt bounced Julian in his arms, getting a giggle out of the baby. "You ready to be the center of attention?" He asked the little boy as Blaine held open the door of the church for the rest of the group.

Julian babbled out an answer as Blaine leaned over to adjust the little bowtie that went with the baby sized button down shirt and pinstriped vest that Kurt had finally picked out. "That's Julian speak for 'of course', I believe." Blaine noted as he led the way through the foyer and into the relaxed sanctuary.

Kurt paused at the back of the chairs to look around. "You know, I've been in the fellowship hall but never in here." He noted, turning to check and make sure that Burt and Carole were still behind them.

Blaine smiled at the man approaching them. "Pastor Dan, it's good to see you this morning."

"And you as well, Blaine." The pastor turned a curious eye on Kurt and his parents. "Did you bring family with you today?"

"Kind of." Blaine tilted his head, considering that for a moment before he made introductions. "This is my boyfriend, Kurt, and his parents, Burt and Carole."

Kurt shifted the baby in his arms to take the pastor's offered hand. "It's nice to meet you." Kurt said politely.

"It's nice to finally meet you as well." The pastor greeted with a smile. "Blaine speaks highly of you." The man turned his attention toward Burt and Carole. "Are you visiting from out of town?"

"We are! We came to visit the boys for Thanksgiving." Carole enthused. "I'm not regretting it at all. The weather is so much nicer here than in Ohio."

Kurt turned away from the conversation to pull the baby back toward him as he tried to lean out of Kurt's arms. "Nope. Flying lessons are not your list of things to do today, Jules."

The sound of laughter made Kurt smile over at Miriam and her wife as their family approached. "Are you sure, Kurt? It could be the next skill you teach him."

Blaine reached over to give Miriam a one armed hug and to ruffle Ella's hair as he pulled back. "I'd prefer that be one he skipped," Blaine noted.

Kurt laughed as well before he smiled back at his dad. "These are Miriam and Kelly and their daughter Ella. And this is my dad Burt and my stepmother Carole."

"It's nice to meet you." Carole said with a smile as the pastor slipped off to greet a different congregant. "You're a friend of Blaine and Kurt's?"

Kelly nodded as she addressed Kurt. "And I see that Blaine finally dragged you along with him."

"I came willingly," Kurt admitted. "I'm not sure you'll see me here again anytime soon, but I wanted to be here for Julian's baptism."

"And something tells me you also dressed him for the event." Miriam teased.

"Of course he did. Would Kurt ever skip the chance to make someone dress the way he wanted them to?" Burt drawled.

"It is my career choice." Kurt agreed, unperturbed by the teasing. "Have you two found a place to sit yet? Any space for us nearby?"

"We're over here." Kelly took Ella from her wife's arms to lead the way over. "Can you watch our daughter for us during the baptism? Miriam and I are standing up for Blaine."

"I figured Julian's godparents who were pledging to help raise him in the Christian way should actually be, you know, Christian." Blaine noted softly to Kurt.

Kurt rested a hand on Blaine's shoulder. "I understand. And of course we can watch Ella. By which I mean Carole will probably lay claim to her at the first available opportunity."

"Hey. I resemble that remark." Carole gave the little girl a smile. "She's a cutie. I wouldn't mind watching her for you for a few minutes."

"I think the miracle is that I managed to be the one to carry Jules in. I think he's spent at least half the weekend in Carole's arms," Kurt teased his stepmother as he sank down into one of the seats.

"Which makes for a happy baby," Burt spoke up as he settled down to sit next to his son.

A steady stream of people stopping by to say hello interrupted further conversation. Kurt was pretty sure that he'd lost count of the number of people who'd made a comment to the effect of, 'Oh! So you're Blaine's Kurt,' upon meeting him.

As the music started and people took their seats, Kurt leaned in close to Blaine to comment, "So when you said it was a friendly church, you weren't kidding, were you?"

Blaine laughed sharing a grin with Burt on Kurt's other side. "I wasn't. But you get a double dose of their desire to make newcomers feel welcome and curiosity over meeting my boyfriend. I know you were here for the baby shower but none of them knew who you were then. Plus, I may talk about you sometimes. "

"Sometimes?" Burt laughed. "From the way they all seemed to know exactly who Kurt is, I'd say it might be more frequent than that."

"Maybe." Blaine shrugged sheepishly. "Can you really blame me?"

Conversation petered out as the pastor stepped up to the front of the church starting the service. "Welcome! I'm glad that you all found your way inside our doors, even on a holiday weekend such as this one." Kurt let the man's voice wash over him, content to sit with three of the most important men in his life: his father on one side, Blaine on the other, and Julian settled into his lap.

* * *

Blaine collected Julian from Kurt's lap as the pastor called them forward. He gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek. "Here goes nothing. I'm just praying he doesn't scream." Blaine muttered into Kurt's ear before he slid out of the row and walked forward, settling his son into place on his hip.

Miriam and Kelly followed, Ella left safely in Carole's lap. "Remember, even if he cries, all the old ladies will still think he's adorable." Miriam whispered before she moved into her place at the other side of the fountain their church used as a baptismal font.

Blaine smiled over at her before he turned to shake Pastor Dan's outstretched hand, stepping into the place the pastor had pointed out.

"It's always a special day when we formally welcome a new member into the church, especially through the sacred rite of baptism." The pastor addressed the congregation. "In the Gospels, we read of Jesus welcoming the children to him, and today we officially welcome Julian into the family of God. He is truly a reminder to all of us that sometimes the best things in this life come to us in the most unpredictable of ways."

Pastor Dan turned a warm smile toward Blaine. "Do you desire to have Julian baptized into the faith and the family of Jesus Christ?"

Blaine nodded his head, falling into the familiar words. He'd been in the congregation for the baptism of many children and adults throughout his years as part of the church. "I do."

"Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ's disciple, to follow in the way of our Savior, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ as best you are able?"

"I do, with the help of God." Blaine answered with the words he'd heard other parents use so many times before.

"Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to grow with this child in the Christian faith, to help Julian to be a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ, by celebrating Christ's presence, by furthering God's mission of love in all the world, and by offering the nurture of the Christian church so that he may affirm his baptism?"

"I do, with the grace of God." Blaine echoed. As the pastor turned to ask most of the same questions jointly of Miriam and Kelly, Blaine's gaze drifted off into the congregation. His eye caught Kurt's, and he couldn't help the smile spreading across his face as he saw the warm look Kurt was giving the two of them. He knew that this was far out of Kurt's comfort zone, but he made a mental note to tell his boyfriend later just how much it meant that Kurt had come. He had to tell Kurt how happy he had been to see Kurt's face smiling across the church at him.

"By what name will your child be called?" Pastor Dan turned back to ask officially.

"Julian Michael Anderson." Blaine answered. He knew that he would have a chance to alter Julian's name if he chose when the formal adoption went through, but he wouldn't. He saw no reason to take away the name Julian's mother had given to him.

The pastor reached out to take Julian in his arms. The baby's eyes got wide as he looked up at the less familiar man. Blaine crossed his fingers behind his back. 'Please don't let Julian lose it," he prayed.

Pastor Dan reached his hand down into the fountain to scoop up water, pouring it over Julian's head three times as he continued. "Julian Michael Anderson, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Julian sputtered unhappily, but he didn't burst into full out tears. Soon enough, the pastor had said a prayer, and Blaine, along with Miriam and Kelly, were moving back to their seats.

Blaine sank happily down into the seat next to Kurt's, laughing as Kurt pulled a cloth from Julian's diaper bag to dry the baby's forehead and pat his hair back into place.

Burt leaned over to comment, "We had you baptized as a kid, Kurt. You screamed like a banshee. Even then, you didn't like anyone messing up your hair."

Laughter bubbled up out of Blaine, from a starting point of pure contentment. This was the feeling of family he'd always hoped for. He was surrounded by a church family that loved him, a son to love as his own, and a man he was in love with. Today was a perfect day.

**A/N: I have finally come around to the ways of having someone beta read my work, so thank you so much to tchrgleek for betaing this for me and for showing me that it's not a scary process!**

**The baptism liturgy is pretty solidly based on the Order for Baptism from the United Church of Christ's Book of Worship. **


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I'm sorry this took so long to update. The summer has kept me pretty busy and not given me much downtime for writing. I can't swear it's going to get any better until after labor day, when school will be back in full swing.**

**Also, this is once again unbeta-ed. I found a free moment to post it today, but I'm not sure how many more I might have in the next week. I'm taking advantage of it while I can.**

**Finally, I apologize for playing fast and loose with the CPS system once again.**

Shooting had run unexpectedly late again that night and had kept Kurt at work until well after nine. After a moment's consideration, and a few texts back and forth with Blaine, Kurt had decided to put the overnight bag he'd packed earlier to good use anyway and go over to his boyfriend's house. Even if all they had time for was to fall asleep curled up together in bed, it would still be worth it.

Kurt didn't bother to knock anymore. He knew that Blaine would have left the door open, since he was expecting Kurt. Instead he just tucked his bag against his side and pushed the door open, locking it behind him.

As soon as he saw the scene before him, Kurt toed off his shoes and dropped his bag on top of them. He'd long since learned what it meant when found Blaine wrapped up in a blanket with Harry Potter or superhero movies playing on the TV. It was the surest sign he'd ever seen that Blaine'd had a bad day. Kurt nudged Blaine's arm over, crawling under the blanket and tucking himself up against his boyfriend's side before he asked, "What happened?"

Blaine turned his gaze from Spiderman to give Kurt a forced smile. "What didn't?" He leaned over to press a kiss to Kurt's forehead. "It's just been one of those days that generally sucked. My kids were squirrelly all day. I thought I'd finally gotten an understanding of long division into their heads last week but now it's gone. Then after school a parent was yelling at me about the fact that her son is getting a C. Like I'm the one that sent him on to fourth grade reading at a barely second grade level. I thought the kid was actually doing well. He's working hard and really starting to make growth. Apparently it's not good enough."

Kurt tugged Blaine closer to him, rubbing at his boyfriend's back under the warm blanket. "That does not sound like a fun day at work. I'm sorry she was so mean to you."

"Then as soon as she left, Cassandra, Julian's social worker called." Blaine shook his head. "I think I'm making myself unnecessarily anxious because it's been a crappy day but-"

"But what?" Kurt prompted when Blaine paused.

"There's a hearing scheduled in family court about Julian next week. I'm taking a personal day to go. She didn't seem to think this was a bad thing, just another step in the process, but what if it's not? What if they decide that I'm not good enough to take care of Julian?" Blaine whispered.

"Did Cassandra tell you that was a possibility?" Kurt asked, feeling his own heartrate start to speed up with worry. He let out a slow breath when Blaine shook his head no. "I'm sure she would let you know if she thought you had to worry at all. I'm sure it will be fine." Kurt turned so that he was facing Blaine more fully within their blanket cocoon. "You're a great dad, Blaine. Jules is happy and healthy. I'm sure the judge is just going to be glad to see him doing so well. Speaking of which, Jules is in bed already?"

Blaine nodded. "He was fussy, too, but I finally got him to sleep after a couple of lullabies in the rocking chair."

"He was probably feeding off your anxiety." Kurt pointed out. "Now, do you want to watch Spiderman beat the bad guys again or would you rather go upstairs and see what ways I can find to relax you?"

Blaine reached out of the blanket to grab the remote, flipping the channel off. "I'll take option number two. But you've had a long day, too…"

"And I promise that my plans for making your day better will be quite pleasant for both of us." Kurt cocked a smile at Blaine before he disentangled himself from the blankets, standing to grab his bag again.

Blaine stood as well, letting the blanket fall into a pool on the couch. "Oh, I think I can help make sure of that."

* * *

After settling Julian snugly against his chest in the baby carrier, Blaine pulled out his phone to shoot a quick text off to Kurt.

**I****'m at the courthouse. I'll keep you updated.**

His phone buzzed in response before Blaine had even had the chance to find the right courtroom.

_**Let me know how it goes. Call if you need me, and I**__**'ll sneak out.**_

Blaine smiled down at his phone for a moment before he tucked it into his pocket as he greeted the familiar woman sitting in a chair outside the room. "Cassandra. It's nice to see you."

Cassandra shook Blaine's hand and then moved closer to glance down into the baby carrier with a smile for Julian. "It's good to see you as well, Blaine, and to see this little guy looking so happy."

Blaine glanced down to see that Julian was grinning up at Cassandra around the fingers he was sucking on. "It's always a good thing to see Julian in a good mood. I mean, he's happy most of the time, but the rest? Watch out."

Cassandra laughed. "Well, then, I'm glad this isn't one of those days."

"Me, too," Blaine responded fervently. "That would make for an awkward hearing for one thing." He let out a long breath, trying to get his nerves under control before he gave into them just enough to ask. "Is it okay that he's in the carrier? I thought it would be easier than carrying him or his stroller if I couldn't find the courtroom, but I don't want it to look like I'm hiding him away."

Years as a social worker must have given Cassandra the ability to read people pretty well, because she caught the nerves behind the rambling. "Blaine. Relax. The carrier wasn't a bad choice. You can always just take it off when we get settled inside." Cassandra paused for a moment to look him over before asking, "What's really bothering you, Blaine?"

Blaine let out another deep breath as he formulated his reply. "I guess I'm just afraid that the judge won't think that I'm a good choice to raise Julian. Not long term. I just - I've gotten really attached."

"That's not going to happen," Cassandra reassured Blaine without pause. "Our worst case scenario today is that the judge thinks that there needs to be more time spent considering whether Julian could be returned to Cooper in the future before we pursue you adopting him." At the worried look on Blaine's face, Cassandra continued, "I don't think that's likely to happen in this case. For one thing, you are a biological relative. For another, Cooper is in full support of you adopting him. It seems like it would be pretty futile to keep Julian in legal limbo for any more time. Your brother just isn't interested in taking custody."

Blaine felt some of the tension leaving his shoulders. That worst case scenario didn't sound as bad as the ones he'd created in his head. "It's just that this summer, I couldn't really imagine being Julian's dad. Now I can't imagine not being Julian's dad."

"You're doing well at it so just take a few deep breaths." Cassandra was cut off from saying anything more by the door to the courtroom opening. "That's our cue."

She led Blaine into the room, taking a seat in the chairs. Blaine pulled the baby carrier off, straightening the sweater he was wearing over a button down shirt. He'd left the bowtie off today, worried about looking either too stuffy or too gay in the judge's eyes. He gave Cassandra the chance to hold Julian for a bit, watching the baby play with a set of toy keys Blaine'd fished out of the diaper bag for the ten or fifteen minutes before it was their turn.

As they were called forward, Blaine took Julian back from Cassandra, balancing the baby with ease on his hip.

The judge flipped through the file Cassandra presented to him for a moment before he started to ask questions. "Julian came into care in July?"

Cassandra took a step forward from Blaine's side to address the judge. "Yes, it was during July."

"And he's in a relative placement?" The judge glanced up, watching Blaine with warm eyes. Blaine could feel more tension melt away. He'd somehow expected the judge to seem like kind of imposing, distant figure rather than a genuine human being who cared about the case presented to him.

"Yes. When we took custody of Julian, we initially wanted to consider a placement with his biological father. His father declined, but asked that Julian be placed with his brother, Blaine. Since there were no available relatives to consider on the mother's side, Julian was placed with his paternal uncle." Cassandra smiled back at Blaine, pausing a moment to watch the baby in his arms chew on a rubber key.

"This has been a successful placement, I take it?" The judge couldn't help but smile down at Julian from his seat at the bench.

"It has been. When Blaine took custody of Julian, he was underweight and behind on his developmental milestones. He has since caught up on his milestones and is on a healthier growth curve. Blaine has done a good job with him, and a good job adjusting to being a parent. He even took parenting classes I recommended," Cassandra assured the judge.

"Julian's biological father still has no interest in taking custody?" The judge asked.

"He does not. I talked to Cooper last week, and he expressed that he still believes that it is in Julian's best interest to have his uncle raise him," Cassandra responded.

The judge turned his gaze back to Blaine. "Is it your desire to continue raising this child?"

Blaine nodded at the direct question, "It is. It's not always the easiest thing, but I love having Julian in my life. I very much want to raise him."

"And you have a steady job, a good support system?" The judge glanced down at the file. "You're a single parent?"

"I am. But yes, I have a steady job. I teach elementary school for LA Unified, and I do have a good support system between the people I work with and friends from church." Blaine reached down to smooth Julian's hair, trying to cover any residual nervousness.

The judge nodded to Blaine before he turned his gaze back to Cassandra. "The purpose of this hearing is to move Julian onto a plan for permanency?"

Cassandra nodded. "It is. Julian's biological mother is deceased, so there is no chance of him returning to her custody. His biological father is in favor of allowing Blaine to adopt the child, which I know is what Blaine wishes to do as well. I think that an adoption plan is in Julian's best interest. Blaine has proven to me that he is able to provide a stable, loving home for Julian. Formalizing that with an adoption would provide Julian with the least amount of disruption in his life."

The judge nodded. He only took a moment to think before he flipped back to the front page of the file, signing the paper there. "I agree with your plan for permanency. You may go ahead and file paperwork for the adoption as soon as it is ready." He gave Blaine a big smile. "I only wish all my cases were this easy. I hope I see you in this courtroom one more time, for Julian's adoption day."

* * *

Instead of texting Kurt more than a quick reassurance, Blaine texted Tina. He firmly believed that with her matchmaker tendencies, she'd support his idea, and she did. By the time Blaine got to the studio gate, Tina had called ahead to leave a visitor's pass for him.

After settling Julian into his stroller, Blaine pulled his phone back out, reading the directions Tina had texted him to the wardrobe studio Kurt worked in.

Blaine paused at the open doorway to peer inside. He took a moment to simply watch Kurt at work. His boyfriend was bent over a cutting table humming softly to himself as he cut a rich brocade into long pieces.

"Got a tune stuck in your head?" Blaine asked as he pushed the stroller inside.

Kurt blinked up in surprise then just beamed over at Blaine. He dropped the scissors onto the fabric to pull his boyfriend into a hug. "Blaine! What are you doing here?"

"Surprising you?" Blaine suggested squeezing Kurt tightly before he stepped back. "I wanted to tell you in person that you were right. I had absolutely nothing to worry about."

"I always love to hear those words," Kurt teased. "'You were right.' There's such a beautiful sound to that."

"Ha. Ha." Blaine shook his head over at his boyfriend. "Tease away. But it really did go well. The judge was actually quite nice, and I officially have permission to file for adoption of Julian."

Kurt grinned back at Blaine. "That is wonderful." At the sound of irritated babbling, Kurt looked down into the stroller to find Julian with arms outstretched. He leaned over to unstrap the little boy and lift him out with a laugh. "Oh? You're not supposed to be getting ignored in all of this, Jules?"

Marjorie poked her head out of the back part of the shop at that. "Who's getting ignored?" She asked as she walked up to the trio. "And who is this?"

"Julian here was being horribly ignored and made to sit in his stroller. The horror." Kurt bounced the baby to settle him. "And this is my boyfriend, Blaine, and his son, Julian. Blaine, this is my boss, Marjorie."

"So be good?" Marjorie joked as she shook the hand that Blaine offered her. She gave Blaine a longer look over before she placed him. "We've met, haven't we? You're Tina's friend. The one who convinced us all to let those kids come visit."

"That would be me." Blaine tucked his hands back down into his pockets. "Should I be feeling bad about that?"

"Not around me. I had the nicest little girl spend the day with me." Marjorie turned to smile back at the baby. "Why don't you take these two and get lunch? The cast will probably get there in ten or fifteen minutes, but I'm sure the food's all laid out."

Kurt gave his boss a grateful smile. "Thank you. I'll stay a few extra minutes tonight if I need to in return."

Marjorie waved that idea off. "We're not behind. It will be fine. Go spend some time with your man and that little cutie."

Kurt stepped into the food line to get two plates of food while Blaine and Julian found a table. He slid one plate in front of Blaine, and then reclaimed Julian from his boyfriend. "It's apparently quesadilla day."

"Mmm. Tortilla and cheese. I don't even care what else they've melted inside that." Blaine leaned back in his chair, tilting his head up to let the sunshine fall on his face. "This is one thing I love about L.A. Even in December I can sit outside and enjoy blue skies. I just need another layer or two to make it comfortable."

"It won't be like this when we get back to Ohio next week." Kurt settled into his chair with Julian on his lap, pushing his plate back far enough that little grabby hands couldn't reach it. "I'm kind of hoping for a white Christmas. That way I can get my taste of snow and then head back out here."

"I'd love to see Julian's reaction to snow, as well." Blaine grinned over at the baby, watching Julian grab for Kurt's plate for a moment before he reached down into the diaper bag Kurt had made him months before to pull out a little tub. "I swear these things are like baby Cheetos." Blaine commented as he scattered a few little puffs in front of Julian. "Which is probably why he likes them, but if they don't keep him satisfied, I'll pull out a B-O-T-T-L-E."

Julian reached out happily to pick one up clumsily between his fingers, bringing it up to his mouth to mash it between his gums. "Jules seems pretty happy with them to me." Kurt said with a grin as he reached around the baby to grab a piece of his quesadilla. "Have you thought anymore about your plans for Ohio?"

"You're sure that your parents don't mind hosting Julian and I?" Blaine asked. He let his insecurity on the matter show, trusting Kurt with it. "I don't want to be a burden on them."

"I'm pretty sure they'd both be more upset if you didn't at least stop over. I'm pretty sure that Carole has Christmas gifts for Jules for one thing." Kurt gave the top of Julian's head a kiss. "He's going to be spoiled this holiday, I'm sure. But they also just want to see you. You're really welcome at our house for as long as you want."

Blaine nodded as he considered his plans. "My parent's big celebration is usually Christmas Eve. Then I'm hoping to find a church in Columbus that I'd feel comfortable in for Christmas Eve services. But maybe I could come over Christmas morning? And then see how things are going with my parents about whether I stay until we fly back."

"That would work. You're welcome for as short or long a time as you need to be with us." Kurt paused for a moment before asking curiously, "Wait. Isn't that hard? How in the world do you find a church that would welcome us in _Ohio_?"

"The internet," Blaine answered with a grin. "I'll look first at UCC churches, like mine. The denomination has a data base on their website. Any congregation that is listed as Open and Affirming has gone through a process of congregational votes and pledged that they will fully welcome and include members of the GLBT community. Whether they have any gay members or not, I'd be welcome to come join them for services. It wouldn't be the same family feeling I get at my church, but that's just a matter of the fact that I've spent years with those people."

"Huh. I never thought of church hunting on the internet."

"Probably because you've never thought of church hunting," Blaine pointed out with a grin. Kurt laughed in reply, letting the conversation lull for a moment to give both of them time to eat.

It was clear when production shut down for a lunch break, because instead of the small clusters of crew members that had been eating, the line for food suddenly filled with a rush of people. "And there goes our peace and quiet," Kurt quipped.

That joke proved true as cast and crew members stopped by to say hello to Kurt and ask, some more bluntly than others, about the baby in his lap.

"You'd think these people had never seen a baby before." Kurt sighed as they found themselves momentarily alone at their table.

"Maybe it's just that they've never seen _you_ with a baby before," Blaine pointed out. He grinned over at Julian, who had gone back to eating his cheese puffs with a fierce look of concentration on his face as soon as he was no longer being fawned over. "Plus, I do have to say that Julian is a very cute specimen of the baby species."

"And you're not biased at all, right?" Kurt grinned up at a welcome addition to their table. "Tina! How's it going?"

"Good, good. Another busy day in the world of pretending to be someone else." She gave Blaine a quick squeeze of a hug before she slipped into a seat next to Kurt. "Did you enjoy my surprise?"

"I did! Thank you for arranging it." Kurt turned his gaze back over to his boyfriend, only to find Blaine staring over at him. "Something wrong?"

"No. Nothing. I was just thinking about how much I love you." Blaine gave Kurt a warm smile to accompany the words.

Kurt could just feel himself melt. Love was an emotion he'd been sure was there between them more and more each day, but it wasn't something Blaine had put into words. Or that he had himself. "I love you, too." And if it came out matter of fact, well, that was what it was, Kurt decided. The sun rose in the morning. The sky was blue. He was in love with Blaine Anderson.

A moment of silence stretched between them as Tina made herself busy with her lunch, taking an unnecessarily long time to spread salsa across part of her quesadilla. Julian had no such worry about ruining the mood, however. The baby launched one of the cheese puffs right at Blaine's face with a bright peal of laughter that the adults couldn't help but find contagious.

"And I love you, too, you little ham." Kurt murmured, pressing another kiss to Julian's soft hair.

* * *

"You know there's one big Christmas tradition we're missing so far with Jules." Kurt piped up one afternoon as Blaine pushed the baby's stroller across the mall crowded with last minute holiday shoppers.

"Oh? And what might this Christmas tradition be?" Blaine asked distractedly as he paused to look into a store window. "I have no idea what to get my father. My mother is easy, a bottle of perfume she likes and she'll be happy, but my father? No clue."

"You could be totally stereotypical and get him a tie. Or several." Kurt gave Blaine a teasing grin with that before he added more seriously. "We haven't taken Jules to see Santa."

"Why would we do that this year? It's not like he can tell Santa what he wants," Blaine pointed out before he shook his head. "I can't give him a tie. He has this - this thing about me picking out any kind of clothes for him. It was alright when I was a kid, even if it was something hideous, but after - well, it wasn't proper for a man to dress other men." Blaine winced, realizing only after he said it the way this might sound even worse to someone whose job that was. "Sorry."

"You're not the one with that opinion." Kurt wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist to give him a quick reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry for every time he's ever made you feel bad." Kurt hesitated for a second before he asked, "He's not going to like what I do for a living much, is he?"

"Probably not. But he'll be too polite to say it, I hope. Would you be interested in coming over for dinner at some point while we're in Ohio? I promise that it won't be as bad as I've made it seem. At worst, they'll be overly formal, and we'll all spend the night biting our cheeks." Blaine stopped the stroller in front of a sports store. "Maybe a box of golf balls."

"If you want me to, I'd be happy to meet them. You've met my dad after all." Kurt pointed out. "Just not on the actual holiday? I know my family has plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And if it is awkward? I don't want it to be awkward on Christmas."

"But you're closer to your dad than I am to mine." Blaine pointed out before he bit his bottom lip, considering good times for that dinner to happen. "I'll ask my mother, but maybe on the 23rd? That way it wouldn't be any more of my extended family, just my parents are enough for now. And Cooper if he decides to come. You're flying into Columbus, right? So you could maybe stop by before you head on to Lima?"

"That sounds like a good plan, but I'll let you check with your mom. Alright, go buy golf balls, and then we're taking this little guy to sit on Santa's lap. The point isn't him telling Santa what he wants. The point is to commemorate his first Christmas with overpriced pictures of him possibly screaming his head off." Kurt bit back a laugh. "Carole will want one no matter how badly they turn out."

* * *

As they neared the front of the line to visit the mall Santa Claus, Blaine unstrapped Julian to lift him out of his stroller. As he got a good look at the forest green cardigan and red clip on bowtie his son was wearing that day, Blaine burst out laughing. "You dressed Julian this morning."

"I did." Kurt agreed, watching the family in front of them lead their hesitant two or three year old up to Santa. "Why?"

"Because he looks suspiciously festive. You planned this the whole time, didn't you?" Blaine's face held much more amusement than affront.

"I may have hoped that the chance would arrive." Kurt smirked as he shrugged. "We leave for Ohio in just a few days. This was the best chance I had left to lure you in."

"Lure me in? Really?" Blaine laughed, and Julian laughed right along as if the baby had any idea what his dad thought was funny.

Kurt leaned in to tickle Julian's belly. "Oh? You think I'm funny, Jules?" A smirk was turned Blaine's direction. "Jules thinks I'm funny, at least."

Blaine leaned in to kiss Kurt's cheek, mindful of doing anything more in such a public place. "I think you're funny, too, dear. Oh, look. It's show time."

Kurt sighed with relief a minute later when it became clear that Julian wasn't going to be one of those babies who screamed with fear at the very sight of Santa Claus. Instead the baby was staring up at him with a serious, contemplative look that he usually reserved for when Kurt had seen Blaine introduce new foods to him.

It turned out that they should have paid more attention to that look, because as soon as the woman holding the camera moved in for her picture, Julian reached up to grab a hold of Santa's beard, straining to try to put that in his mouth.

Kurt insisted on buying copies of the picture anyway with a laugh. "It'll make for good blackmail material someday when he brings home a special girl or boy. Besides, only your kid would think it was a good idea to try to eat Santa Claus."


End file.
